LesterLyles

This is very encouraging. I think w/ a revived Fountain Square district, this entertainment district idea could thrive given how close it is. It seems OTR was doing ok until safety became an issue. That probably won't be an issue in this part of town.

The reason I ask LSAM is that I feel Cincy, aside from the very charmiong archetecture and overall feel, as very good restaurants. I tought the shopping lacked b/c people didn't want to park downtown whereas Indy has great downtown shopping and supposedly good mass transit. I made the connection in that way but it may be simplistic. I have said this multiple times. the ultimate key to a vibrant downtown is getting people to live there. Cincy seems to be addressing this issue and I think you will see more vibrancy as more living units are built.

I am really curious. What is so exciting in downtown Indy that people are always down there and why can't that be replicated in Cincy? Is it just a superior mass transit that attracts people/shops?

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061212/BIZ01/612120320/-1/CINCI It seems like they are trying to take a negative spin but overall, it cites the several positive trends going on in Cincy and indicates that several retailers are in fact doing fine downtown. Also says "The Oceaniare Sefood Room" will be opening up which is a higher end seafood cvhain (I read about a potential chain earlier this year). This is a great chain and will be great for Cincy.

How does Xavier win an award like this over Harvard, Georgetown, Columbia, Penn etc etc? This is pretty ridiculous.

The author has some ulterior motive. I was born in NY and I currently live in NY. Any woman that is walking around most parts of Manattan at 2:00 AM is asking for trouble...big time. NY is a great city and yes it is safer than it has been in the past but c'mon. The poster is making ridiculous and one-sided statements to try to make her point. As for Cincy and the issues on this board, I do think the issues include among other things improved safety and more commerce cooperation (stay open on weekends) and options. TRhat being said, it is clear things are headed in the right direction. The most promising sign is how many people are moving/living downtown. The probelms that have plagued Cincy in recent years plagued the majority of US cities (ina nutshell, flight to the burbs and decaying downotowns). The trend is now revering across the country (than god). I think it is taking Cincy a bit longer to ride the trend mainly b/c of the OTR/riot issues of '01. That being said, you can clearly see things heading in the right direction. One thing Cincy has going for it is the charm of the city. In my many travels of US cities, there are very few w/ such charm. JMHO. I am a Nyer so I am not biased.

Does the existing Morton's do well?

good idea. Not many potential uses for land in between two highways...a dog park is one of them though.

good to hear matin. From the webcam, the square looks like a hige mess. It seems like there is not one part of it that isn't having work done. glad it looks better in person.

I think that whole east End area is going to be great. Some really great things going on there. Such development will only help the Banks, especially if there is a walkway connection.

saw this in the Paper today: --Fifth Third Bancorp plans to begin installing a new glass-curtain exterior later this month on the five-story office building that forms the northern boundary of the plaza. But the bank still hasn’t signed any new retail tenants for multiple spaces in the Fifth Third Center that open onto the square. What rtail spaces are they talking about? is it the Probasco market or something else?

100% agree. While some may look at this kind of project as excessive beaurocracy/anti progress etc etc, it will preserve one Cincy's great assets. This is why many of Europe's cites are so beautiful and so well preserved. They have restrictions up the wazoo and the beautiful, historic assets of each respective city/region are maintained. For too long the US has lagged in this regard and its nice to see a city like Cincy taking these measures.

Did they start putting the trees up on 5th street?

regardless of how much it costs, if this gets done, it will be a big boost to downtown Cincy aS well. getting that many more residents in walking distance will be a huge boost. Hope this gets done.

Say no to this project!! What a shame it would be to put this kind of glass structure in b/w two beautiful Cincy landmarks. Why is it such a big deal to have folks not go outside to get to music hall? It seems inconsistent with the purpose of reinvigorating the area. If they are adamanert about a garagel, do it underground or nearby. This project would be a real shame. Just as an example, I went to a University in the NE w/ gorgeous gotic archetechture and the school decided to build a glass elevator in between two adjacent buildings...it looks hideuous!!

seriously, did they put this project on hold or is it still planned?

Has this construction started yet? Personally, I think this plan is a great idea and really makes the whole Immaculata experience Seps/church/gate into a potential draw as opposed to the run-down scene it is now. i particularly like the idea of bringing the old gate "out of retirement".

Phaty, I hear ya that many people are yearning for it and I don't think it would necessarily a bad thing to have it built but I like you insinuated, I honesty think there are things much more important to the city than an office tower. the Banks would go a long long way to vibrancy, health, image of Cincy. I don't think an Office tower would.

As a NYer, let me just say that I always liked Cincy's skyline. It definitely blows away most US cities including some that are bigger Cincy. To me, once you reach a certain level of skyline beauty/size (and Cincy has achieved such level), new office towers really aren't too important shouldn't be built unless absolutely necessary. With the vacancy in other buildings, I don't see why phase 2 should be built. Why not focus on resedentuial developmet particularly the Banks and OTR?

If you could get families int hose condos, that would really be great. There is definitely a market for families in condos; they just need to have options.

mecklenberg, immigration is a huge huge problem in Europe mainly from Northern Africa and Albania. While you make some valid points about population growth or decline, it really is only a problem among country natives. Immigrants are more than making the difference up. Europe will be an entirely different place in 50 years i.e. likely more muslims than Catholics in many countries by that time.

This is great news and agree with Monte that despite being good news, it doesn't make up for all the negative press. I wonder if this figure will put Cincy out of the top 20 crime cities since the rankings are calculated per capita. From following this board and the news in general, it really does seem that Cincy is headed in the right direction and I'm looking forward to potentially moving there from my beloved NYC. Crimeseems to be down in areas like OTR and there is a lot of building going on, which is always good to see.

When are they starting on the 5/3 facade rennovation?

Even if things may have gone a bit far afield, I still found it more interesting than the majority of posts here, most of which are either "Yay!," "Boo," "I like it," or "I don't like it" or some combination thereof. Next time LK is coming into town, I gotta find a way to get jmeck here. I wanna get these guys a few beers in 'em, sit back and enjoy the show. We'll need to find a neutral location, so Piti's and whatever skeezy westside bar Jake haunts are off limits. To keep this Banks related... the AIG pick and the media coverage has placated the masses, but the project is still a non-starter unless AIG plans on losing money. The County is still resolutely against a big buy-in, and the City is broke as hell and is sending what money they do have to the CPD. Despite some of the rhetoric from the Mayor and Council, they'd rather manage decline with some rear-guard actions than invest and rebuild. I hope I'm wrong about this, but I still have a bad feeling about all of it, and my concerns weren't allayed by a conversation with a guy who has some insight into the proceedings of the working group. Even if the County and City agree to development arrangements, air rights, sort out the Bengals parking issue, and all the rest, there's still the problem of money. I'm beginning to suspect that AIG said they'd throw in a shit load of cash themselves just to set themselves apart from the other contenders. I don't know, cramer. I'm certainly an outsider but have followed this issue and this time seems different. I have have a feeling Castellini and crew and going to get this done. There have been a lot of negatives associated w/ Cincy in recent years from the riots to the census data of people leaving. I think everyone involved will push hard to get this done. I don't think the Bengal;s air rights will be an issue; that can be worked out. I do think that money could be, though.

I don't disagree but the one advantage Paris had/has is that is essentially the only significant French City ( I believe something crazy like 20% of the entire poulation lives in metro Paris). It is their National Champion and t/f gets an exorbitant amount of federal money to make it the "posterchild" of the world. This general policy in fact goes back to the 1800s when Napoleon commissioned Hauptmann as central planner and paid beaucoup bucks to build the water system, street plan etc etc. i'm talking major major money that no American city has even come close to seeing. Certainly the US does not have this kind of National City (Capitol DC is the closesty thing; certainly not my native NY as a former President told them to 'drop dead'). Our cities have generall developed by local revenues and private wealth w/ the exception of the new deal times. Even other major European countries i.e. Germany and Italy don't have such a national city They each have 2 or 3 major cities). Paris is in a league of its own.