edale

Great shots of a beautiful city. I think SF has lost some of its mysticism for me since I've visited a fair amount in recent years, and I now have family living in the city, but it's still such a pretty place. I wish there was a more pronounced Black and Hispanic presence, though, as it has felt a bit sterile and white washed on recent visits, unfortunately. This is not to say there isn't grit to be found, especially with the high homeless population and all the trash and...'waste' they leave behind on the sidewalks and stuff. Thanks for sharing these photos!

lol what Steak and Shake doesn't have terrible service?

^ Wow, I didn't know this project was actually underway already. Isn't this one something like 800 beds? Is the whole old Deaconess site being scrubbed and redeveloped, or is the hospital being rehabbed and new construction being built around it?

Those goods that get delivered to stores are delivered in bulk shipments. So they would get a box with maybe 400 packages of razor blades, while you get a box with maybe 2. Much less waste.

Why is this development able to progress so quickly while 4th and Race languishes? Is it due to the fact that Kroger is anchoring the retail? Does having the retail component accounted for really change the pro-forma so significantly? I always heard that a development should more or less be able to pencil out with the assumption that the retail will not be filled, but maybe that doesn't remain true with such a large retail space and such a respected and nationally known tenant. It just seems odd that these are relatively similar projects (~17 story buildings with apartments above parking garages with retail at ground level) and one went from idea to crane erection in like 5 months, and the other has been floundering for years.

Another issue I have with online shopping is the extreme amount of energy and packaging waste that it brings. My neighbor gets packages delivered almost every other day, it seems like. Think about all the boxes, bubble wrap/packing peanuts, tape, etc. that gets used to send each of those little items. Also think about how that item was most likely flown here, then driven from a sorting facility to our apartment building. It takes an insane amount of energy and resources to send each of those packages he receives. It's something most people don't think about, but I can't get past the environmental impact and general selfishness involved with that type of shopping. For the record, I live within 3 blocks of a grocery store, and there are many shops within walking distance, and many more just a short 5 minute drive away.

Raising a family in a safe neighborhood with access to good schools with two parents in the house, and middle to upper middle class income are probably predictive of a good environment to raise children. That situation can exist anywhere, including in central cities. What this list did is measure homogeneity. Some things like crime rate, and share of uninsured children are probably good metrics, but the others just seem to be kind of silly. I have lots of friends whose parents were divorced, but that didn't impact my family. I didn't have to rely on food stamps for meals, but would knowing and interacting with kids who do be such a bad and damaging thing? Furthermore, the racial correlation in these lists is pretty blatant. Is Mason really a great place for a black couple to raise a family? They just had an incident where a teacher told a black student that if he didn't settle down and do his work, he'd be lynched. Great environment to raise a black child! Maybe the list should be retitled "Best Places to Raise a Sheltered White Family."

When you look at retail, it's pretty clear that most large businesses are struggling, due in large part to Amazon. Macy's is basically in a death spiral and is closing stores left and right. Bookstores, other than little local one-offs essentially aren't a thing any more. Amazon is introducing new physical stores where people don't have to check out, which will of course make those stores more efficient and less expensive than those that have to, you know, employ people. If they're successful, look for all the other major retailers to follow suit so they can remain competitive. The Amazon impact is just starting to be felt, too, I think. More significant than its effect on other businesses, though, is the effect Amazon is having on our cities. With retail being pushed further and further towards the digital space and away from physical stores, our urban retail districts are going to increasingly suffer. Many of the things that urbanists talk about as being fundamental for urban success- eyes on the street, pedestrian activation, etc- largely depend on retail. In my opinion, one retail company, that isn't developing a new product ala the car or something, should not be able to change so much of our economy and built environment in the way that Amazon is.

It would be cool if they could have included diversity and access to cultural institutions in these rankings. My childhood was greatly enhanced by going to a diverse elementary school, living in a place where I got exposed to different cultures, and visiting places like the zoo, art museum, natural history museum, etc.

All of these major companies are embarking on, or at least thinking about, making major changes to their business structures, often involving slimming down to the absolute bare bones, simply to compete with Amazon. It's totally unhealthy for so much of the American economy. At what point does the government come in and break up Amazon?

There aren't many homes on the slopes of the mountains. It's not like people in Pasadena or the flat part of Hollywood brag about being able to see a mountain range. People *do* pay huge money to buy or rent homes in the Hollywood Hills. That's true. The mountains are visible just about anywhere in the LA area, and they're never listed as a selling point for real estate, though I do find them very nice to look at. South LA has some of the best views of the San Gabriel Mountains, and portions of the Inland Empire also have pretty cool mountain views, but those areas are where the cheapest real estate can be found in Southern California. Views of the ocean or FROM the mountains are another story. I agree with your point about the expensive urban condo market being spread out in Cincinnati given the topography and various vistas that exist. Lots of cities don't really have a Mt. Adams or Eden Park high rise condo area, with the notable exception being lakefront cities, I think. Cleveland has the Gold Coast out in Lakewood/Edgewater, Chicago has the North Shore, I haven't been to Milwaukee, but I know they have several high rise residential buildings along the lake outside of their downtown. But a flat city without a major body of water, like Columbus, wouldn't have this type of scenario as much.

Is this not the master plan for The Banks? I believe this was created before Carter, so I don't think it's their work. Are you all suggesting a rethinking of this plan?

^ Just when I thought I couldn't hate FC Cincinnati any more...

How would cot and caught be pronounced, if not the same? I’m genuinely stumped trying to think of another pronunciation, other than how Mike Meyers might say it on “Coffee Talk” lol.

That looks quite nice, but wow, Indy's built environment is so incredibly underwhelming. I've always heard about Broad Ripple being one of Indy's better urban neighborhoods, but from doing a little traveling on that streetview link, it looks less urban than downtown Loveland! Hell, it almost looks rural. I simply do not understand the appeal of Indianapolis, I suppose. Broad Ripple is certainly more impressive in person. If I had to give a Cincinnati comparison, it would be like a whiter, vibrant, infill-happy, denser-commercial district version of College Hill in Cincinnati. Basically a random older district surrounded by 1930's-1960's homes that is growing up...like Los Feliz! ;) Interesting. It seems awfully low density though, with a lot of front facing surface parking and what not, at least in the area around where IAGuy linked to. Not too much of that to be found in Los Feliz, but I can see the residential similarities a bit. Didn't mean to derail the thread, I was just caught off guard to finally see Broad Ripple after hearing so much about it for years, only for it to look a bit like Loveland (though larger). For comparison: Loveland: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.2680307,-84.2587564,3a,75y,84.22h,90.52t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sAbLk5h04SNk7bP29TUqpCw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 BR: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.8707747,-86.1421143,3a,75y,187.44h,85.94t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s5iV5g0tTIhBqLtctBKxnig!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Eh, I don't know if that explanation really holds up. With all of the regional draws on the riverfront, The Banks should not have to rely on local residents for the bulk of their support. You have millions of people attending events and going to attractions on the riverfront every year- an advantage that no where else in the region has. That alone should give The Banks a leg up. Also, other cities with similar populations and growth rates (or even worse) are developing their prime real estate at faster rates than Cincinnati. Pittsburgh is a relative boomtown compared to Cincy, and their city (I think) and regional (definitely) populations are declining. Baltimore, though a bigger city and region, has way more problems than Cincinnati, but their waterfront is also booming, even while the Inner Harbor continues to be pretty healthy. Columbus is growing faster than Cincinnati, but the metro population is still a bit smaller (especially if you account for Dayton in the unofficial CSA of Cincy) and the Arena District has been a tremendous success and continues to grow in a major way. It can't all be about population and growth. Not with all of the other assets that exist in the immediate area around The Banks. I think one major problem is the freeway trench, and the psychological barrier that creates for the riverfront. Yes, it's just a quick 2 block walk from the CBD to The Banks, but the freeway trench is loud and barren, and you have to go down a hill to get to the riverfront from the heart of the CBD. The streetcar SHOULD help enhance the connection of these districts, but it's currently a mess and not doing it's job in any meaningful way. Quiet the noise of FWW and make that area an attractive or at least unoffensive space, and I think The Banks would benefit immensely. The area, as it stands now, is a bit of an island. The architecture and urban design of the development is....lacking (to be nice), and you have much better options for entertainment either Downtown, OTR, or even Newport or Mainstrasse in Covington. If we can just make The Banks a more enjoyable place to hangout, that would help, but more than that, enhancing connections to the rest of the core would really benefit it too. Make it seem like just another integrated district downtown, and less of a destination. Once the streetcar becomes better, perhaps the riverfront garages can be used as a parking location for the whole basin, thus funneling more visitors through the Banks. I know this was kind of a long winded post, but I think the general point I'm trying to make is that simply citing slow regional and city growth for the struggles at The Banks is simplistic and ultimately unproductive. There ARE things that can be done to improve the situation there beyond simply hoping for more housing or a sudden growth spurt for Cincinnati.

You must either not be reading the responses in this thread, or you're purposefully trying to get some sort of a reaction by repeating the same line. No one is claiming that Cincinnatians, young or old, have a NY accent. There are some words and vowel sounds that share vocal similarities to accents in NY and Philly, but of course no one in Cincinnati talks like Ray Romano or something. Just subtle ticks that are definitely different than the plain, standard english you could find in Dayton or Indianapolis or somewhere. I also find the Great Lakes accent interesting too, because there seems to be subtle differences between say, Cleveland and Detroit. Certainly different up in Minnesota. My friend from high school had a girlfriend from the absolute NE corner of Ohio who had an insufferable accent. I mean it was so awful, I could barely stand to hear her talk. She would literally pronounce the word cat like kee-yaaat. Oh my gaaaadddd, etc. People I knew in college from the Twin Cities, or even Chicago, tended to have a bit of the a sound like her, but much more muted. The O was where their accents really came through, though.

I grew up in the north central burbs of Cincinnati, and almost no one in that area has a 'Cincinnati accent'. Other than some low budget car commercials, I never realized there was such a thing as the Cincinnati accent until about high school, where I met several west siders and a few far east siders who had it. It's not wide spread throughout the region, but really concentrated in places where families have been for generations. The west side is kind of (in)famous for being the type of place where the grandparents, parents, and kids all live on the same street or the same neighborhood. They don't move around much, and it was/is an area that did not see much outside infiltration. It makes sense that these old accents would be most pronounced in these areas, and more dissipated in areas of the region that are more diverse. I would imagine the same is true just about anywhere.

That's it! Also noticeable on O sounds, sometimes. Tony = Tehohnee ...something like that. It's really tough to spell out these accented words!

Uh, have you ever actually heard a strong Pittsburgh accent? It's nothing like the one you can find in Cincy. It sounds like your impression of the Cincy accent is the more Appalachian variety, which certainly is understandable if you spent much of your time in Lower or East Price Hill, or one of the other Appalachian strongholds. Pittsburghers say things like dawntawn for downtown. "Let's go dawntawn to watch the Stillers beat the Brawns". They also say yinz a lot, which my grandma from Eastern Ohio also said, but I've literally never, ever heard in Cincy.

I also find the topics of accents to be very interesting. There is definitely a Cincinnati accent, though I really only noticed it with West Siders and far East Siders (like Anderson/Mt. Washington and beyond). I don't really hear any sort of New York accent in it, but definitely Philadelphia. You hear it mostly on As and Os. Really hard to describe through text, though. This guy from Channel 5 has the thickest Cincy accent I know about in media. Just go to Youtube and type in Brian Hamrick, and you'll get plenty of videos with him speaking. Here's one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nt_vfdqovII There is also a bit of a southern or Appalachian twang noticeable in much of Cincy too, which makes sense given the proximity to Kentucky and all the Appalachians that migrated to Cincinnati over the years. People definitely pick up linguistic traits of other groups that live in regions, even if they are not from that group, so that makes sense to me. I have an African American friend who moved to Cincinnati from the Toledo area, and he said that Cincinnati's black population has a very distinct and southern inspired accent, but also almost a sub-regional dialect with unique words, terms, and phrasing. Yes! The lotto commercial always bothered me so much for this reason. "Catch caish explosion Saturday nights!"

I don't have a problem with The Banks adding a music venue, as I do think something along those lines would help consistently make the area more active. For these entertainment driven districts, the key is to really have them activated as much as possible throughout the year. The Reds do a pretty good job of this in the spring and summer, but the Bengals only have 8 home games a year, and the events at US Bank Arena are pretty spread out, and many don't attract very large crowds anyways (Cyclones). However, this line in the article causes me some concern: “We think it’s something that master developers across the country will see as a real plus,” Gabelman said." This tells me that the County or Banks steering committee or whatever is having a hard time finding a master developer to take over after Carter quit. While many of us here saw the departure of Carter as a good thing, given how slow the Banks has been built out and how lackluster much of the architecture has been, I personally was not aware that they walked away from the project, but rather was under the impression that the County essentially fired them. A developer just walking away from a project such as this is very troubling, IMO. What's even more troubling is that the County/steering committee is apparently having a hard time selling The Banks as a development site for master developers. The general riverfront area has: a major league baseball stadium, a major league football stadium, a major museum (two if you count the Reds HOF and Museum, too), a world class park, an arena, a streetcar connection to Downtown and OTR, and massive parking facilities already built. That we are having trouble attracting developers to a site with all those assets (not to mention adjacency to Downtown and all its employees) is a real head scratcher for me. What gives? How do areas with MUCH less to see and do (Columbus arena district, for example) seem to be thriving, but Cincinnati's prime development site struggles?

That looks quite nice, but wow, Indy's built environment is so incredibly underwhelming. I've always heard about Broad Ripple being one of Indy's better urban neighborhoods, but from doing a little traveling on that streetview link, it looks less urban than downtown Loveland! Hell, it almost looks rural. I simply do not understand the appeal of Indianapolis, I suppose.

I know one of the Brown children had a baby with a Russian/Eastern European girl who was teaching tennis at Cincinnati Tennis Club. It was a bit of a scandal at the time, but I think they actually ended up marrying.

What a hair-brained idea ::)