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Wouldn't a line from the casino to Union Terminal increase investment in City West? It is my understanding that they are having issues attracting businesses and even creating a high demand for the residential component.

FYI - Steve Hellman and Carel Vandermeyden (from the City of Cincinnati and the Greater Cincinnati Water Works) will be presenting on the transitioning of the Greater Cincinnati Water Works to a public regional water district at tonight's Downtown Residents Council membership meeting (6PM @ Main Library - Tower Room).

Just a reminder that Trent Germano will be presenting and answering questions on The Banks project at the Downtown Residents Council meeting tomorrow night (7/13 @6pm Tower Room in the Main Branch of the Public Library). I'm sure he won't answer some questions like prospective retail tenants, but it could still be pretty informative.

The "Pocket God" application for the iPhone is AWESOME! I still haven't figured out how to throw the islanders into the volcano, but I've electrocuted them, fried them, had sharks/dinosaurs/spiders eat them, spear gunned them, etc....

Just got back from Akash India downtown and they seemed pretty excited about the streetcar (I'm wearing my green streetcar t). I was with co-workers so I couldn't stay long to chat, but I let them know Cincinnati had enough money to start the project, and it would be done in two years. It's nice to see even existing business owners are excited about this project.

But their math is still wrong. The Enquirer article now says "more than 90 percent." Its actually a hair less than 90 percent. I was going to point out their mathematical incompetence (and poor reading comprehension), but since the change put it much closer to reality I decided against it.

I heard putting a strip of clear tape fixes the antenna issue too although I guess that is a little ghetto. The guy in the cube next to me has had his iPhone for a while and has not been able to reproduce the error even without a cheap tape fix. All in all while the antenna thing is an issue, it seems like it is a bit blown out of proportion. I think a lot of it comes from people wanting to take Apple down a peg for past "butt whoopins".

I know what I'm about to say does not add much to the conversation, but XUMelanie and I will have our new iPhones today!!! Since we're moving from two year old Blackberry(s) I'm sure these iPhones will be nothing short of amazing. Even though there is some debate on which manufacturer has the best phone feature combination it is hard to deny that all these new smart phones are incredible.

"raised funding for the local streetcar plan above the $110 million mark, more than three-quarters of the amount needed" - http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100708/NEWS0108/307080048/City-gets-25M-for-streetcar-line I love how a project that has $114.5 million of the $128 million secured is in The Enquirer's mind "more than three-quarters" instead of a more accurate 90%.

It always bothers me that I can look out my window in the morning and see the Kroger corporate office, but as an IT professional if I wanted to work at Krogers I would need to commute to Mason some 35 minutes away.

About two years ago I was looking for a new job and went to a recruiter with the specific requirement that any job opportunities be in downtown Cincinnati (to continue my existing walking commute). The recruiter seemed a little frustrated at first when I turned down a couple of interviews out of hand that fit my skill set, but were many miles away. Ultimately they were able to find a handful of positions that were downtown (including my current position). In my experience while there are plenty of jobs in suburban/exurban communities, they almost exclusively require rush hour driving or long biking commutes. I believe over time there will be more people who will be just as discerning on jobs close to home or on good mass transit routes. Certainly when I explain my current commuting situation to friends, family and co-workers there is some jealousy and grumbling about their long commutes.

I'm not really sure who manufactures, distributes and sells the streetcar t-shirts anymore, but I thought I'd post this here in case it's helpful and finds the right people. I was in Tazza Mia this morning wearing one of my Cincinnati Streetcar shirts and the owner was interested in where I got it and if they were still being sold. When I told him I got where I got mine (one shirt at Park+Vine and another at Second Sunday) he mentioned he would like to sell some at his store (seemed to be a big supporter of the project). So if anyone out there is looking for businesses to sell shirts there you go.

XUMelanie finally was able to order iPhones for us! We would have purchased them sooner, but the discount AT&T web page link provided by XUMelanie's company unfortunately had broken functionality compared to the standard ordering page. It's a real shame Apple is locked into AT&T, but I guess that was the bed they made.

Perhaps this is just hearsay, but it is my understanding that Google actually pays each phone manufacturer $5 to include its OS on their phone. That's not charge, but actually pays THEM. Please set me straight if this isn't quite right. I've heard this from two different people who own Apple stock and follow the industry closely.

XUMelanie and I got our land line back up! The technician found the pair from our utility room to the central office had a weak anomaly and switched it to a new pair that was a bit better. It's good to know the technicians are at least good at what they do. I feel kind of bad wasting their time since we'll more than likely cancel our land line service in a month or so, but at least we have an active line until then. The technician was sympathetic when I mentioned that I had trouble communicating with the foreign call center. I guess this happens so often that they just simply apologize and explain that it is unfortunately a corporate decision not under their control.

I have a casual week at work, so I'm going to be wearing my "Cincinnati Streetcar" collection of t-shirts until we hear something. I sure hope they announce something before I need to do a load of all streetcar Ts.

Man, I thought I could be opinionated until I heard that show :wink:. Good work guys!

I used to work for Cincinnati Bell for many years and I have to say their service and quality of products has gone waaaay down hill. Soon XUMelanie and I will be cutting off our two CBW mobile phones and more than likely cut the land line too (which hasn't really been working lately anyway). I would highly recommend calling their support line just to see for yourself how long it takes to get through to get your questions answered. It will also be a good test to see if you can understand the very thick accents of the support people. Recently when we had issues it took three calls. The first two were over an hour with no luck getting a live person and on the third attempt I was unable to understand what the person was saying.

Being in a restaurant with some family a few tables away from the African American mayor of your city and then having said family members talk about a bad black waiter, or some crazy Mexican (as though the race of the person had some relevance). I hurriedly raised a menu to cover my face in a useless attempt to distance myself from my semi-racist family member.

XUMelanie and I will be ordering our phones on Tuesday. We weren't able to pre-order for days due to AT&T/Apple system issues and decided to wait until they got their act together.

I've got my "Cincinnati Streetcar" t-shirt on this beautiful business casual Friday here in the office. Here's hoping we get some good news soon.

Let's not forget that the 2GB cap is on their 3G network (with $5 off the cost of their unlimited plan). You will have unlimited usage if you have a WiFi access point (in your home, at the coffee house, etc...). I could watch unlimited Hulu when I'm at home. XUMelanie and I will be getting our phones as soon as we can order :-).

Just a quick FYI - The Downtown Residents Council will have someone speak about The Banks (probably someone from Carter and Dawson) at the next membership meeting on July 13th. http://ilivedowntown.com

I guess it all depends on your perspective. Ohio is not a non-smoking state. You can smoke in private and outdoor areas. It is a state that respects the health and non-smoking choice of the majority of the population. Not only that, but it encourages businesses to add cool outdoor areas to accommodate smokers. Also, instead of seeing a "ghetto casino" I see another anchor entertainment venue to compliment a wide variety of entertainment options all within walking distance. There are plenty of other states to move f you don't feel like Ohio is cool enough to suit your tastes.

Red Squirrel on Walnut and 4th has a sign up saying they will reopen under new management soon! Rumor was they went out of business a month or two ago due to bankruptcy.