neilworms

He may be bad, but Cincinnati has leadership position for the entire region, and frankly the first domino of intense urban development has already fallen, and that is OTR south of Liberty, as time goes more dominos for the same product will fall, with North of Liberty and Walnut Hills being next on the list. Bellvue thanks to good leadership and a small overall population is another one that's fallen, eventually it will make it to Covington in spite of poor leadership - good leadership will just help it get there faster. A good parallel would be Uptown in Chicago, like OTR Uptown had an overabundance of social services in it along with an alderwoman who was a Buddy Grey type, while the neighborhood never got as bad as OTR did, it was a black hole on the lakefront surrounded by neighborhoods that were more developed, eventually the bad leader decided to resign and was replaced by pro-development opponent who ran against her previously (this change came in part due to pressure from new residents settling in the neighborhood, looking for cheaper rents) and now due to economic pressures that neighborhood is improving - the same would probably happen in Covington even if the reasons for its stagnation are a bit different.

Not at all, in fact for many years it was a perennial this area will come back soon kind of place. What was weird about it though was you had this gorgeous business district densely built with decent condition buildings but nothing but empty storefronts - Aaron Renn even covered how weird it was a few years back (look under DeSalles Corner): http://www.urbanophile.com/2010/06/06/the-neighborhoods-of-cincinnati/ Another area like that btw is where Pike Street meets Madison in Covington - so much potential there too - there are signs of that area turning around but nothing that's been set in stone. Yeah because Covington keeps electing total nut-jobs like Steven Frank, who was on the radio today promoting construction of a sprawl extension of I-471 south from NKY to meet up with the I-75/71 junction south of Walton, KY. Yes, you have a representative of one of the most intact historic areas in the U.S. turning his back on his own city for the promotion of more suburban crap. Just from what I've been hearing as of late Covington is starting to feel jealous of Cincinnati's resurgence, with rents going up in Cincy its only a matter of time til the NKY cities jump on board the assets are too great and the barriers for entry are lower than they are in the Cincy side considering how intact everything is. In some cases like Bellevue they already have IMO. I've also seen a fair amount of positive development off of Monmouth Street in Newport btw, really hip new restaurants/cafes opening up though I really wish that they'd make it a two way street like what happened to McMillian in Walnut Hills. (brought it back to topic for those of you who are concerned about such things).

Not at all, in fact for many years it was a perennial this area will come back soon kind of place. What was weird about it though was you had this gorgeous business district densely built with decent condition buildings but nothing but empty storefronts - Aaron Renn even covered how weird it was a few years back (look under DeSalles Corner): http://www.urbanophile.com/2010/06/06/the-neighborhoods-of-cincinnati/ Another area like that btw is where Pike Street meets Madison in Covington - so much potential there too - there are signs of that area turning around but nothing that's been set in stone.

Fair enough, wish it was less of an inward facing development though. I've edited the post to make it more critical of the design of that business than the business itself which is what I was going for - its completely unfair to judge a business as a whole without using it and I'm sure it has many loyal customers.

This is totally good news, I just wish the people managing it had better vision and understood the concept that A) cities around the country are revitalizing intense urban neighborhoods like Walnut Hills B) In most cities that have neighborhoods like it they are extremely desirable C) Cincinnati is very much behind most of the other cities that have neighborhoods like this in recognizing their value only now is it starting to realize this D) Thus, monies should be used for stabilization and not demolition as the revitalization of this area is inevitable and its potential value with some TLC is extremely high. If you look in earlier threads, you'll find that even buildings that were in Okay shape like the original Greaters building were demoed because well they don't have their original facade so lets make it a park. Dumb move considering that within walking distance is one of the city's best parks (of course this is a city where people still drive 2 blocks in OTR instead of walking). Streetwalls are more important than pocket parks in neighborhoods that already have access to such things. Cincinnatians have a weird obsession that puts parks over its high quality but decayed urbanism, its part of a systemic problem in the mentality of the place. Much of the potential value of the neighborhood was wasted with several of those demos. Some buildings weren't too much of a loss, but too many IMO were and it will hold back the redevelopment of the area. --- To put a bit of positive spin, I'm super happy about whats going on in East Walnut Hills, saw a banner with a sign for Luxury apartments, and most streetfronts were filled. The only thing that needs work on that end of town is the inward facing building for the tool company that takes up like 2 blocks of potential development.

The buildings were beyond being saved. My understanding is that's while some were beyond repair others they could only get funding to demo and not money for stabilization. My opinion they weren't creative enough threw up there hands and gave up.

I glad I got to ride a bicycle around that area last summer, kind of a last hurrah for what should be a celebrated historic area.

Someone is getting rich off of that venture, I smell a rat with that church, unless someone is here who actually goes there?

Good news, though a lot of buildings should have been saved but were torn down like the original greaters location (look at google streetview). Another notable spot is the ENTIRE BLOCK where the old Paramount Vodka advert building was (and the food truck festival during MPMF). How long will it take to fill those in? While the Walnut Hills redevelopment foundation has some good ideas, that much demolition was totally short sighted and taking a quick look at the "Townhouses" they've since put in to replace what was lost, doesn't inspire much in me that the replacements of those buildings will be of quality design :( My biggest critique of them is that they don't think the neighborhood would ever regain its status of being a second downtown, to which I respond, they are wrong. This neighborhood has the bones of a "Wicker Park" which was similarly downtrodden, but was saved early enough that its pretty much a major node in Chicago again after going through 40 years of decline, and another 20 of revitalization with the last frontier the funature stores by Ashland finally being renovated into more productive uses (mixed use from single use large furniture stores). The same could have happened in Cincy if managed properly :( - at the very least it will still be an okay neighborhood, I just feel it could be so much better given the shell of what's there! As terrible as that Kroger is for the urbanity of the neighborhood, its totally a selling point to be literally across the street from a grocery. If the Tri County Mall folks who run Kroger's store designs adapt to the future which other divisions of the same company (see the Ralphs in downtown LA) have it would behoove them to redesign this in an urban friendly format. Pie in the sky dreams, but change has to come for that grocery to remain competitive, particularly if Cincinnati gets more small scale botique groceries, which it seems "Picnic and Pantry" as well as the new one at Findlay Market are. Here's a good illustration of what could happen, compare the upper right of what the Chicago Southport Jewel Grocery looked like in 2007 versus now - the old Jewel was suburban the new is urban: https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9483546,-87.6640605,3a,75y,222.66h,88.87t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sRj2i_Fu4mQQAB63tsjAWfA!2e0!5s2007-09

As much as I hate U-Square's design, it isn't too bad in terms of walkability, the only really shitty part is the giant parking garage.

Sad to see how much that plan degraded :(. This is suburban style bs.

FINALLY (look down and right): http://www.go-metro.com/fare-information Even better is the fact that they are doing it kind of like how Portland does it where you can buy them on any bus. Now all they need to do is implement bus tracking for cellphones. Press release link: http://www.go-metro.com/news/448/58/Have-a-Nice-Day-with-Metro-s-New-Day-Pass

The term you're looking for is Elasticity :) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elasticity_(economics)

Uber is better at marketing, they give themselves this mildly obnoxious yuppieish image that is appealing to their base. They also did a lot to reach out to "cool" people in Cincy's blogosphere to hype them up. Lyft is cheesy but friendly, I always prefer them, and always like the prices better too :)

Then make it a monthly fee. Most of us would have some issues with paying $300 as a lump sum. Anything less than 100 is generally ok, (unless we are talking about rent of course) but 300 is too high for that.

I'm really hoping that the progressives aren't actually going to fall for this "plan" because seriously, having the highest parking permit fees in the nation is going to HURT OTR and OTR doesn't need any more pain than the tons of crap that's been already thrown on top of it over the years.

I'm with you on that, but if I had to kill twenty minutes or meet up with someone, I'd pick Starbucks over DD every time. Though if in OTR Iris Book Cafe's courtyard KILLS anything that Starbucks could offer ;)

^-Its literally happening now.

Agreed. It may result in the Manhattanization of downtown LA, much the way BART did for downtown San Fran. For the second-largest city, LA's downtown skyline always struck me as lacking. I don't see downtown LA every being "Manhattanized". Last time I was there (last winter) I literally saw entire blocks of midrises being built and a few high rises under construction - I can see it becoming Manhattanized. Ditto for Hollywood which has been for many years been getting denser. Also in regards to LAs skyline, IMO Downtown is not the most impressive skyline of the region, LA is a multi-nodal region to the extreme - if every skyline in the whole of the LA basin were smooshed together into one giant one downtown it would be competitive with Chicago and New York IMO. The most impressive skyline in LA is actually West LA's which is Century City combined with Westwood, feels more appropriate for the size of the city (this pic also includes traditional downtown): https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8189/8378970129_9e3c4d02a0.jpg

That building is architecturally sound to my knowledge, I can't believe they want to demo it, makes no sense at all...

^-Memorial hall was amazing. I love how Gardens and Villa kept making jokes about how they felt like they were General Grant, or that they were giving some speech to Civil War troops.

^-Not only that but the German festival should take place in the German neighborhood :) Though attendance did go way up when it was moved from Central to 4th street about a decade ago as I recall... Seems like all the breweries are already doing special events for the festival, as more stuff comes online up there and the streetcar connects it all easily it should be an interesting experience.

Hah so exotic!

Google search for tree and leaves band lol: http://treenoleaves.com/

Agreed, and my pizza tastes are way different now than then. I can't stand LaRosa's since I've moved - way too sweet. Though as a kid I enjoyed it (I knew it existed too ;) ).