edale

Woah, that's very scary. 7 PM in a high profile location downtown...yikes.

The issue was the number of people involved in the group text. They had enough members of council on the chat to count as a quorum, thus meaning the text chain should have been a public meeting. Anytime you have enough members of the same elected body to constitute a quorum, the work related conversation is subject to public meeting laws. Sittenfeld and Seelbach could text all day every day about policy and other work stuff, and it wouldn't be a violation of the law. The issue only comes in when the number is expanded to constitute a quorum. In California, I believe it's even more restrictive, and 3 or more members of the same governing body are subject to the "Brown Act", regardless of how many members would be required to have a quorum.

I find it so strange that Pittsburgh, which is and has been experiencing a development boom for years, continues to lose population. They are seemingly building more than any of the 3Cs, but it continues to lose population both at the city and regional levels. I've also seen that their relatively small black population has been declining rapidly, too, so it might be kind of the Chicago syndrome at play. I really like Pittsburgh, and I know population doesn't tell the whole story when it comes to the health of a region or city, but their continued losses are puzzling to me, since the city is doing so much right when it comes to economic development and revitalization of neighborhoods.

^ I also do this every day during my commute. Bus (circulator) to rail.

It's not a one way streetcar, it's a loop. You clearly have no clue what you're talking about, but you come into this thread asking thinly veiled questions about why the streetcar isn't performing as well as it could. Stop. I've seen this with other forumers over the years plenty of times before. If you want to know information, there are ways to get it. If you want to critique and argue about something you're ignorant about, go elsewhere.

^ There are 768 pages of posts documenting the history of the streetcar. If you're genuinely interested in finding answers to your questions, start reading.

The streetcar was never intended to be a commuter transit line. It was built as a circulator for the urban core. Ideally, there would be commuter rail and light rail throughout the city that would bring commuters to a couple of points downtown, and the streetcar could then distribute those people to their destinations throughout the basin. Without that network, the streetcar's impact is a bit muted, but it can and does still serve a good purpose. I think there are some issues with the route, and I do agree that mixed traffic rail really isn't all that advantageous to other forms of movement, but the system is what it is. It can be improved a lot by some relatively simple things like signal prioritization and vigilance when it comes to quickly removing track blockages. I also think we should look into removing a few stops to help speed it up, too. Add in more development along the line will also help, especially development in the northern (Findlay Market/Rhinegeist areas) and southern (Banks) areas, and make the aforementioned fixes, and the streetcar ridership will steadily climb. Also, the new FCC stadium should be another driver of ridership in coming years.

And their route is much simpler and more intuitive. The turns and one-way nature of Cincinnati's system makes it confusing, and adds lots of time to pole to pole trip.

.....right. Like, save us the press release for this 'new attraction'.

The Wasson Way account on Facebook posted that the planned development on Madison (next to the Larosas) fell through, and the property is back on the market. The post was celebrating the demise of the project, and claimed the development didn't work well with the bike trail, and many of the comments were straight from the NIMBY greatest hits compilation like "would YOU want a six story building in your back yard?" I sure hope this site can be redeveloped with some fairly dense housing. Disappointing that the old developer walked away.

Yeah, the places in Mt. Adams did nothing to innovate or keep up with the times. I lived in Mt. Adams for 3 years, and other than Teak or Mt. Adams Bar and Grill, I would never go to the other places for food, because they were awful. Even Tavern, which was probably the best of the bunch, had very standard (mostly fried) bar food. The Mexican place was somewhat promising, but their hours were so spotty that you couldn't depend on them being open, or actually serving food if they were open. If some of the Vine St. type of places would have opened in Mt. Adams, I think the business district would still be doing well. People like coming to Mt. Adams. It's like an urban island kind of floating above downtown, has great views, picturesque architecture, etc. But they're not gonna make the trek for some fried pickles and wings. Now that the crowds have largely left, it's going to be harder to draw people back. One cool new restaurant (preferably in the Longworths space) could spark a major comeback, though. BTW, is Monks Cove still around? Even though it could attract a douchey crowd, I have a soft spot for that little bar.

The few times I've been to German Village I always thought it was massively under retailed. It's a cute area to walk around in, but other than the big book store and a couple restaurants, it seems like it's very sleepy and residential. It doesn't have a real business district in the way Mt. Adams does. It's a charming neighborhood, for sure, but not really comparable to what Mt. Adams had, which is a cluster of ~20 businesses on two streets.

I had the misfortune of going to Liberty Center in December, and that place is a hot mess. It wouldn't surprise me at all if it's fully abandoned in 10 years.

Might not even have to be spec. There was speculation about Kroger spinning off one of its tech divisions to create a new company. If that is indeed happening, a new tower across from 84.51 would make a ton of sense. I just hope whatever is announced for this site has a bit of height to it. A new tower would be great for the Fountain Square area.

^ Damn, reality is really stranger than fiction sometimes. That is a very strange and funny story. I appreciate your posts @jmecklenborg!

I agree that making it fully pedestrianized is probably not wise, and I also think the suggestion of creating a small park in the center of Court sounds like a good idea. It makes me think of this portion of the Hayes Valley neighborhood in San Francisco: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7767201,-122.4244771,3a,75y,204.67h,83.57t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1segjTUlsos_1DCoi2mJtGMA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 Small, tight streets to force cars to go slow, but a usable green space in the median. With how small many of the restaurants are around Court St. it seems like a situation like this would be great for people grabbing take out and eating in the park.

Pedestrian mall? wHaT aBoUt ThE pArKiNg?!?!?

Yay, excited to see this project moving forward!

Exactly. When I moved to Mt. Adams, everyone I dealt with at both rental companies insisted on referring to Mt. Adams as "the hill". It's kind of strange to see everyone saying that the retail scene will sort itself out, especially since that has been the standard response for years, as the business district has gradually died. Imagine if 3CDC took that kind of stance with OTR back in 2006 or whenever they started. "Oh these boarded up buildings will just sort themselves out because they're right next to the CBD and the architecture is solid." Maybe the key to Mt. Adams business district's woes is converting St. Gregory to a primarily residential street, and just removing a lot of the commercial space that's up there. Vacant storefronts certainly don't help anyone.

^ Are you trying to argue that US Bank Arena is in good shape? I know we have beaten the whole concert thing to a pulp on UO over the years, and I agree it's hard to know if shows are skipping Cincinnati due to the arena or any number of factors, but I think just about everyone can agree the arena is in bad shape, and is a pretty crappy venue for just about everything.

^ lol woah, no way. That's hilarious.

It seems like some of the big shows use some complicated stage rigs that would be hard to pull off in a dated arena like US Bank. The latest Kanye and Drake tours, for example, had their stages suspended from the ceilings of the arenas they performed at, and I would doubt US Bank offers those capabilities. You also have no real luxury boxes or anything except for those little suites that ring the top of the arena. Those boxes are big money makers for arenas, and are a point of emphasis in modern arenas/stadiums. Is there another arena in the country that uses RC f***ing Cola for their sodas?! RC Cola is a sure sign that your arena is janky.

Sad to see what is happening in Mt. Adams. There was an article about some planned revitalization attempts in the Biz Courrier a while ago, and I don't think it ever got posted here. I will look for it later this afternoon, but it basically mentioned some new streetscape stuff, potentially a small hotel, some new restaurant concepts to be announced soon, and emphasizing the new residential development happening mostly on the south and west sides of the hill. Mt. Adams doesn't need to be a nightlife center, and I think it's ok if it's a bit sleepy. But it'd be great if it could land a few quality restaurants, retain a couple bars, and add in a little boutique or two- though admittedly the street traffic is probably too low for retail to really thrive. As much as it kills me to say this, I also think parking is a bit of a problem, and there should probably be some sort of garage built on the hill somewhere.

In an ideal world, the arena would be rebuilt or extensively renovated. It definitely would be nice to have a first rate downtown arena, and it's widely known that the arena has kept Cincinnati from getting some large events, like the NCAA tournament games, the democratic and republican national conventions, some big concerts, etc. and the arena is sorely lacking in many key aspects like bathrooms, crowded hallways, long lines to enter events, and more. But without the realistic prospects of landing another pro team, a new arena hardly seems like a priority. Cincinnati just spent a combined half a billion renovating Music Hall and Union Terminal, and is in the process of building a $200 million + soccer stadium. UC just completed extensive renovations to Nippert Stadium and 5/3 Arena, which was almost $100 million itself. I think at the moment, the region is a bit tapped out on big civic projects like arenas and such. Plus, the convention center could stand to be expanded, and the city is trying to build a new convention center hotel, so I think those projects will consume a lot of the energy that otherwise might get spent on updating the arena. Bottom line is, it's just not that much of a priority at the moment. It's a fair point that some people will judge the city by its arena, but you can only do so much at one time.

Where are you getting the notion that Cincinnati is desirous of an NBA or NHL team? I’ve never heard much discussion about either. I think the region is pretty well covered with sports, both at the college and pro level. Cincinnati has 3 pro teams (mlb, nfl, mls), two major college basketball programs, 1 college football team, and a major tennis tournament. There’s only so much corporate support out there, and I don’t think it really feels like there is a need for a 4th pro team, but maybe that’s just my perspective.