10albersa

We're going to need the cities represented by republicans to do the same thing as Hamilton. So Dayton, Beavercreek, Springfield, Toledo, Sandusky, Painesville, and I'm sure there's others along these routes. The fact of the matter is, the 3Cs will not shape the legislature's decision in the least bit.

I'd like to see how the convention market is in 2022/2023 and have a cost/benefit analysis performed then. It may be that the spending on convention center improvements and whatever public money is going towards the hotel will not be recouped. In that case, the Millennium should stay and be converted to a large chunk of residential (that should be affordable even at market prices) and help support the efforts to improve the W 4th area of downtown, instead of having it live or die based on when conventions and events are happening in the city.

I'm so disappointed this building couldn't be spared and used to close the housing (affordable and market price) shortage we have. It doesn't interface with the street well, but I actually really like the tower itself.

Apologies in advance for the camera phone pic, it's been a while since we've seen an update in the neighborhood, and I drive here every Tuesday for tacos. The north side of North Bend Rd is already shaping up to be a game-changer for the neighborhood. This is the College Hill Station development. Taken 02/16/21

There's a couple things here: 1. The South (Nashville and Atlanta specifically) is growing at rates much higher than ours, so naturally, money will flow into these metro areas faster. 2. As much as it is cited on HGTV and no matter how much we prioritize it, walkability may be one of the first things most homebuyers eschew when looking for a home. "We're used to driving, we don't need to be able to walk to things." So if the image isn't necessarily there, and Glendale and Wyoming aren't young-hip neighborhoods, there isn't much spillover gentrification to be had. When there's still stock in the Kennedy Heights and Cheviots of the city, why go to dirty (but walkable) Carthage? I'll have to look into the real estate market in Hartwell and Reading, I have a feeling both may be getting some momentum. That's just a gut feeling based on me driving through both of those for years now.

Lockland not yet gentrifying makes sense. It's saddled between two of the heaviest trafficked rail corridors with tons of at-grade crossings. Add on top of that highway noise from 75 and the pollution from being in the middle of the valley, I can see why it's not at the top of the list. On the other hand, they already have a ton of "hipster" staples in the neighborhood: coffee roaster, kombucha place, artisan cheese shop, and brewery although they are nestled in the back of an industrial park. Reading Corridor: The City of Reading is in a similar situation, but I can see it being the first of the above listed neighborhoods to get hot. The schools are better, there's more housing stock, most of which is starter (whereas Lockland east of Wayne is much more sparse). It has a destination "downtown," although it is designed for a niche market, there's actually some good restaurants there. From there, cross-county highway to the south and the surrounding asphalt wasteland are enough of a barrier to stop any success from moving south to Roselawn/Bond Hill. Those neighborhoods will need to do it themselves, which I think is possible, there's some really good housing stock in that neighborhood (like Pleasant Ridge quality). I think the game completely changes along this corridor if BRT is chosen here (no matter what your definition of BRT is, it will get eyeballs). Bond Hill/Roselawn will most definitely be receiving more interest in this case. Vine St Corridor: I live along this corridor in Wyoming, I bike, bus, and drive this stretch often. I couldn't really give you a good reason as to why this hasn't gentrified. The area from Township Ave to Wyoming is pretty much filled out with walkable business districts. The road isn't a car sewer, outside of the Paddock/North Bend Rd/Vine St split by 75. There isn't a ton of space in Elmwood Place/Carthage, but there's still plenty of housing stock that looks like it's in pre-gentrification Madisonville. There's even a bike path (although it is in bad shape, has a homeless camp, and isn't connected to Northside yet). Hartwell is an interesting mix of car-oriented businesses and nice walkable neighborhoods. It has some absolutely beautiful streets. At some point, when these neighborhoods do catch on, they'll catch on fast. It's a lot like Kennedy Heights, which is getting hotter simply because it is along Montgomery Rd and on the east side. I wish that some of Northside's hottness would come up Spring Grove-Vine St along with the bike path, but it seems that's all headed north to College Hill. For those that haven't ridden the Mill Creek Greenway, here's a photo I took in June of a stretch that the homeless own in Carthage:

Lockland has so much potential with their built environment despite having a highway tear right through the neighborhood. Because it is only one half of the highway, and it is sunk, it doesn't take up much space, and crossing the highway is easily walkable. Both E Wyoming Ave and Dunn/Mill St have great business district bones, but there's a lack of momentum in the neighborhood. Maybe that changes if there isn't an eyesore built on Shepherd Ave/Wyoming Ave intersection, but I'm worried it will be a bland industrial building set back from the road. This space is an excellent opportunity for a public/private mixed-use development.

On the bright side, Columbus is attractive (based on national articles written, growth momentum, etc). There's one thing that is heavily against us becoming Georgia: we have a high "white working-class" population, and a huge legacy of those professions in all corners of the state. That won't change anytime soon, despite population trends. The only path to a "blue" Ohio is through them. So, we need more "Sherrod Browns" that can speak to them and offer progressive solutions that actually reach their ears. The path that other states take via urban and suburban growth is a long ways away. It would have to be an absolute blowout in the cities and the rural populations would have to be disengaged/nonvoting for this to happen.

I can't find it, but I remember the most recent OKI 2040 Plan had funding for an additional Amtrak platform at CUT to accommodate future Amtrak routes. I imagine that gets increased priority if this becomes closer to reality.

Yeah it will be, but I think they are extending Millsdale across into Arlington Heights, and that's what the tree clearing is for. By nature of this being so close to a highway exit it's bound to be an ugly hellscape instead of the woods that used to be there.

The exit at Cooper Ave north of here is being moved south to Millsdale, so they need to clear space for that and an extension of Millsdale. This is highly disappointing because that forested area is supposed to be where the Mill Creek Greenway will eventually go, and now instead of an abandoned factory and woods along the trail, it will be another blown out highway wasteland. The Cooper exit is dangerous by today's standards, but I love how compact it is. The new exit will feed cars into a neighborhood and railroad crossing.

https://www.wvxu.org/post/these-groups-want-help-cincinnati-trust-its-local-government-again Today's first segment of Cincinnati Edition was on attempts to reduce corruption in City Hall. One thing that stood out in that segment was both guests echoed that Neighborhood Councils used to have power and should get some of that back if we want to remove opportunities for council members to solicit bribes. Philosophically, I agree with this sentiment, but before any power is ceded back to neighborhood councils, the problem of NIMBYism needs to be dealt with first. These councils are (largely) against adding residents, require more parking in proposals, and typically don't care about pedestrian oriented improvements. They can only imagine the status quo, and how to get more of that out of proposals. Rather than having council bypass neighborhood councils completely (like OTRCC), the city should institute progressive, ped-oriented laws for developments, then let the neighborhoods work within those laws to get the development they prefer. Off the top of my head: parking maximums need to be enshrined in law city-wide. Not sure how to properly address the density issues easily, those almost always go to council for changes and variances.

OTRCC can't have it both ways with more affordable housing and smaller scale. If you honestly care about more affordable housing, then the project actually needs to go back and add another floor to the design and make the project 1/5th affordable housing, and keep the same # of market rate units.

Yeah, and I'm sure the Civic Center area (AMC, Top Golf area) would appreciate a pedestrian connection from the "Downtown" West Chester as well. With this interchange, they'd need to build a mixed-use overpass to cross 75 now. That said, for vehicles, the new configuration is a lot better, and people in WC love their vehicles.

Seems like all of the I-75 suburb exits are getting an expensive makeover. In a few years, we'll hear about how Tylersville Rd and CinDay Rd need a re-do as well. Gotta spend that ODOT budget somehow.

This is what is missing in this discussion, and will be familiar to the SimCity players among us. Taxes, like prices, are affected by demand. If there was a real crisis of taxes being the sole reason people are moving away, they would be reduced in order to stop the bleeding and bring new people in. But CA and NY are so rich in these 'cultural amenities' that the taxes have not reached that point of needing a reduction. Housing prices in CA and NY are still sky-high, despite the migration away. The fact that they are this high signals to me that taxes are not an issue in these states, cost of living, due to high desirability, is. There's still plenty of demand to live in these desirable places, despite the high tax rates. Anecdotally, if family where not a consideration, I'd gladly move to one of the high tax states, and tax cost would be near the end of my list of things to consider when moving. Typically, that high-tax area also means top-notch public services, mass transit, schools, parks. All things that attract me to a city in the first place.

I don't know when it will be actually possible, but once it is socially acceptable, the number of people going downtown to eat out, go to the bars, go to a show will skyrocket to above 2019 levels for a few months too; adding even more wind to the streetcar sails.

I can't tell, but is the conference center across from Great Wold Lodge there? Streetview 2017 says no, aerial imagery says yes. If it isn't there, it would have made much more sense if they could have bought out the Rivers Crossing church and then used the land from that plot and the conference center for the same thing and have it be walking distance to the park. With this set up, they're targeting the RV crowd and saying they need to drive into the park. Either RVers are towing a personal vehicle behind them that they can use to get there, or they're driving the big rig into the KI parking lot for the day.

What's the point of this if you can't even walk to Kings Island? You could camp at any number of campsites (in nature!) in the Cincinnati area and drive to Kings Island and get the same experience.

Yeah, and it ties in well with the art deco look of Union Terminal too.

I don't know about everyone else, but I really like the look of the current WHV. This thing is just a monstrosity. The only silver lining with this design is that (allegedly) the bridge is going to be built to hold future rail, and maybe we can get the middle 2 lanes replaced with rail sometime in the next 50 years.

Yeah seriously echoes is amazing, especially in its current time slot.

That "they have come under a lot of criticism" I presume. I read the book, and thought it was a great insight into our (sometimes) unseen neighbors, and some of the stories within it were very relatable for my father and how he grew up around here. That said, I have no interest in the movie.

I drove by yesterday, I love how the Choremonster building helps hide the stadium a little, makes it fit in. Hopefully once the entire build-out is complete, more of it is hidden behind garages with nice facades or buildings. I haven't seen it from the west side yet, but judging on how it looks now, I feel bad for those residents.

Is Rob Richardson able to run next year? I really liked him as a candidate back in 2017. I think the stank of City Hall right now means there's definitely an opening for a non-council member to seize on that.