Cincy1

I would definitely say Oakley or Clifton. I have been around Oakley more lately, although I grew up in Clifton. Oakley should have a decent amount of places in your price range, and if you get close to Oakley Square, there are a few bars and restaurants nearby. There are plenty of young people in the neighborhoods in the area, and you will also be near Hyde Park and Mt. Lookout Square, which also have some bars and restaurants - since you will be 21 soon. The job market is fairly strong, and Citi just began ramping up a few months ago for a 1,000 person IT operation in Blue Ash. Not sure of the type of candidate they are looking for, but that might be a place to start. Another plus of this area is that the neighborhoods are walkable, and you can do many day to day activities without having to drive far, if at all. Lunken Airport is also close, where there is a 6 mile bike/running path and golf course. The Cincinnati Sports League is a good way to meet people, and they often things like flag football at Lunken or volleyball down by Rivertown marina. Not sure if you are interested in this, so I am just throwing it out there - I do not know of any IT groups off hand. Oakley is also close to I-71, which would make for an easy drive to employment centers downtown, uptown (the UC area), and in Blue Ash to the north. Any of these would be within a 15 minute drive. There should be links to both Oakley and Clifton, and I will see if anything is available.

That has to rank up there with the worst defensive performance in team history, especially considering the offense they were playing. How bad was Baltimore's offense? We'll see what they're made of in Seattle I guess.

I went to a wedding reception last night at the Verdin Bell Center, and met a couple from the Detroit area staying downtown at the Millennium. They kept saying they were so impressed with how beautiful the city is, and that "downtown was so vibrant with so much to do". It's hard to not go into the chamber of commerce mode, but it is good to hear positive feedback from an outsider.

Not that it is great, but the poverty rate for blacks is actually lower, approaching 40% according to this latest census information. I would expect it to be lower in the suburbs. The article you referred to from 2001 credits the information to a city official but no source for the information is provided. It would be mathematically impossible for the rate to be 67% based on the overall number. But yes, overall not good numbers.

Another opportunity for Jones to grab the spotlight. This will do wonders for an already low percentage of immigrants. I think before ICE goes too much further they should consider that America's population growth or lack thereof would look much more like Europe's without the "illegals". I am still of the opinion that this is a federal issue, and I would much rather it be dealt with on that level than some hillbilly sherriff launching his own crusade. And although he protests, there seems to be some not so subtle racism toward Hispanics, like WLW. Many of these families and friends will simply move to another US city.

Very true...it's a zoo inside these places. I was at the IKEA here in Atlanta again this weekend...doing some price gauging and what not for when the Cincinnati IKEA opens. There looks to be this great leather couch (super comfy) for $699. I was at this furniture store later that day and saw an almost identical couch for $1300. I'll take that bargain any day (unless it's from an American big-box). Agreed - I cannot bring myself to set foot into a Wal-mart or anything along those lines (maybe Target). Although this is technically a big-box it still has a cetain cachet.

Alright, I am going to get on topic by getting off topic. It's amazing how people love this place. We had friends in from Columbus for the Cincy Masters, and they were saying how fired up people are to have one fairly close. This is going to be a major draw.

I just heard that we are now at 35 days over 90 for the year, 5 at or above 100. I think the average is 18 over 90 although last year we had 25. This has been a long, sunny summer - I am actually wishing for rain as trees are already starting to lose their leaves.

Maybe it would have been better if 5/3 moved to the suburbs like the hometown company since there is such demand on the building. Plus they wouldn't have added ugliness to downtown.

Television ...and I am listening to Ben Kweller as well as Bob Mould and The Clash to go further back - I must be getting nostalgic. I am also really liking Arcade Fire even though they have been getting too much play.

Yes - that was extremely enlightening - it's amazing how little changes have huge impacts.

"The Tipping Point" comes to mind and there is an example of how a group of hipsters in New York made Hush Puppies cool across the country. If you have not read this book it is very interesting.

There is something about this under the whole rating of the hardiness of an area, and all of the UK is surprisingly mild for how far north it is. It also has something to do with the moderating effect (don't know if that all falls under gulf stream or something completely different) of the ocean, but if you looked at some of the climate zones they obviously do not go in straight lines along the lattitude. There are a lot of things at play. I too will take the one or two snow storms each year - I think we have as mild of a winter as you could get for a northern city outside of DC, and some might consider that city to be slightly southern.

I was not sure where to put this, and I did not see anything from a search, but I came across some interesting information on Cincinnati's climate. Apparently, the area is in transition zone, and in many ways has characteristics of a humid subtropical climate. Most of the state officially has a humid continental climate based on the Koppen climate classification(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koppen_climate_classification). I also had no idea Ohio had many different geographic regions, and the southwest portion is in the bluegrass region. Anyway, I had always wondered how my sister has a southern magnolia tree in Clifton, but that tree is apparently fairly common in the area and is a "subtropical indicator". There is a map of where it grows in the US in its link below. It is interesting to see some of the other indicators and the story behind the wall (or Lazarus) lizard - it was first established here in O'Bryonville. I am sure some will find it boring and please move it if it should go somewhere else, but here is the topic from Wikipedia: [edit] Climate Cincinnati is located within a climatic transition zone; the area is at the extreme northern limit of the humid subtropical climate(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humid_subtropical_climate) or at the southern end of the humid continental climate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humid_continental_climate)(Koppen climate classification Cfa or Dfa), depending on the criteria used. Although technically located in the Midwest, Cincinnati also is considered to be within the periphery of the Upland South(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upland_South). The local climate basically is a blend of the subtropics to the south and the mid-latitude area to the north. Evidence of both climatic influences can be found in Cincinnati's landscape material and fauna (see: Southern magnolia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_magnolia), Sweetgum(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweetgum), Bald cypress(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_cypress), Musa (genus) hardy banana(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_%28genus%29), crape myrtle(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crape_myrtle), needle palm [1] [2](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Needle_palm), and the common wall lizard(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_lizard)). The USDA Climate Zone map assigns Cincinnati with a 6a/6b hardiness zone(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardiness_zone) rating (zone one being the coldest and zone 11 being the warmest). More mild "microclimates" of a 7a/b rating may be found, particularly along the Ohio River basin. Cincinnati, which is in the Bluegrass region(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluegrass_region) of the Interior Low Plateau of Ohio, generally receives less snow and has a longer growing season than much of the rest of Ohio. The summers in Cincinnati generally are warm and humid with cool evenings. The mean annual temperature is 54 °F (12 °C), with an average annual snowfall of 16 inches (58.4 cm) and an average annual rainfall of 41 inches (1,040 mm). The wettest seasons are the spring and summer, although rainfall is fairly constant all year round. During the winter, particularly in January and February, several days of snow can be expected, allowing for winter sports, although snowfall is lighter than in most of Ohio. January temperatures range from 22 to 39 °F (-6 to 4 °C) and July temperatures range from 66 to 87 °F (19 to 30 °C).[15] The highest recorded temperature was 103.0 °F (39.4 °C) on August 17, 1988, and the lowest recorded temperature was -25°F (-32 °C) on January 18, 1977.

What you say is true, but a big selling point seems to be the larger population. I have read, for example, that cities have done this to also increase the potential of gaining a professional sports franchise. Did the size of the metro change? No, but they can now say the city is larger than prior to the merger. See Rando's comment as exhibit A. I disagree. Usually these city-county mergers involve the consolidation of services and the elimination of redundancies. These are actually structural changes in government that can reduce bureaucracy and produce synergies and operating efficiencies, not just inflated population numbers. Anyone who says their city is the X largest city and ignores where the entire metro population ranks is trying to skew the facts, IMHO.

^ Understood - I was simply pointing out that on different levels areas try to pump up their numbers. By a city merging with the county, the city's population goes up and the city suddenly climbs in the rankings. They would not do that if it did not matter to them. At least a combination of the MSA's would seem to be objective as this is controlled by a third party.

I think the difference is this area will show up on every metro list as being 3.2 million people, and suddenly Dayton will get mentioned every time Cincinnati does like Dallas-Ft. Worth. If no one cared about CSA's, MSA's, rankings etc. I do not think you would see so many cities annexing or merging with the home county. It's a little silly, but plenty of people pay attention to these numbers, and it's not only people on this site. To change in meaningful way it would be great to have some consolidation of resources, but this is not something that will have zero impact.

Off topic but . . . "Doolittle" is one of the best CD/Albums of all time in my opinion. Continuing the off topic - ever notice how the much the guitar on Debaser sounds like Sugar's Good Idea (actually this should be reversed)? Also, Where Is My Mind has to be one of most well placed songs in movies at the end of Fight Club. Sorry for the interruption.

What's gotten into the Enquirer lately - the good thing is that things must be picking up steam because we know they would not err on the side of being overly positive. Let's keep the ball rolling. On a side note, I went to the Reds game with a group of people on Friday, and the In Between was packed, as usual, on a game day. I really like that bar for its neighborhood quality, and it would be nice if they could make it larger. I think they open the parking lot for Bengals games. We also started talking to two guys who had just driven from Long Island, and they were quite impressed with the city and stadium. I did have to bite my lip on the fact that Broadway Commons would have been much better.

This topic is a little silly as there is so much more on the Ohio side already, more people, more business, more everything. Although Kentucky, being Kentucky, isn't exactly cool, leadership has done a good job of taking advantage of its location and views - but that energy quickly wanes as you go just a few blocks from the river. Even without the Banks being underway there is already over a billion dollars worth of investment in the stadiums and Freedom center. Add to this all the work being done by 3CDC with Fountain Square and OTR, not to mention City West and Riverside Drive and there is a lot of development already happening. I am also not convinced of the longevity of Newport on the Levee as there seems to be a fair amount of turnover - the Empire night club is gone, the IMAX theater is closed, a couple restaurants have closed, and the retail stores are very slow. Any development around the river is good though.

This is very sad - I know he used to stop in at Hap's periodically and was a very down to earth guy. He was also great as sharing life lessons and not just teaching basketball. I watched ESPN a little tonight, and you can tell what kind of person he was by other coaches' reactions.

I have always felt Columbus was "over" retailed, but I was still surprised by that number. I think you can add the whole test market aspect, which causes a lot of newer retailers/restaurants to open there to see how they will do.

It would be interesting to get the total office space versus leasable office space, but that information does not appear readily available. I found a couple of places that had some information - Office space.com shows Cincy at 53,000,000 and Columbus at 41,500,000, but I am not sure of the methodology or accuracy. I guess the numbers can vary a lot, but the ugly layout is below. Cleveland was not available on this site. This is off topic but what jumped out more was the amount of retail space in Columbus - 36,000,000 square feet - wow. Property Statistics for the Cincinnati Region Properties Buildings Total Square Feet Available Spaces Office 870 1,103 53,096,980 1,412 Industrial/Flex 976 1,170 88,861,377 502 Retail 335 394 21,645,178 342 Land 178 - - - Total 2,359 2,667 163,603,535 2,256 Property Statistics for the Columbus Region Properties Buildings Total Square Feet Available Spaces Office 859 1,228 41,529,081 2,099 Industrial/Flex 570 766 83,720,013 772 Retail 380 550 36,875,430 906 Land 351 - - - Total 2,160 2,544 162,124,524 3,777

I was in San Francisco in May, and every time I am there it makes me realize what a difference there is between a city like that and Cincinnati. That is truly a world-class city with so much to do and see. It has a great combination of a working city and a tourist destination. And when you consider all the neighborhoods there, and the fact that Oakland is close by (and to some extent San Jose) you realize how impressive the Bay Area is. I also got a chance to walk around Berkley this time and that is a cool area - I can only imagine what it would have been like to go to school there. Thanks for the reminder of why I have not tried to post pictures - awesome shots. I really like the jukebox Marriott for some reason. Did you see the new skyscraper at the edge of downtown by the Bay Bridge by the way? I was trying to figure out if that was condo or new office construction.

I agree about the gloom and doomers - the city gets relatively decent news, and suddenly we have people telling everyone how terribly Cincinnati is doing. The metro population has steadily grown as well as the annual growth in number of jobs. If we could get the population growth rate closer to the job growth rate we would be in pretty good shape. I would argue that the peer cities are those that have not annexed, and regardless of the true number the city seems to be doing alright. Remember, many of those cities are half the size they once were. Atlanta is really one of the few exceptions. If you want to compare to cities that have gone the boundary extension route, then you have to begin doing a metro comparison. Either way, we are confident the metro is growing and it is really a matter of the population distribution within the region - and whether people like it or not, Cincinnati and Dayton are likely to be combined in 2010. This might be one of the few positive aspects of sprawl so we should take advantage of it.