Gordon Bombay

Hey everyone, I was wondering if anyone on these boards had been to any of the previous veterans memorial bridge subway tours put on by the county engineers office in the past: http://www.cuyctyengineers.org/subway_tour.htm They're holding a tour this saturday and I'm very interested in going, just not sure if it's worth the 4 - 5 hour drive from Cincinnati. Can anyone on here offer advice. Unfortunately most of the people I've asked to go have other obligations, so I was wondering if it was worth the drive to check it out alone. Anyone have any input?

I've done that, on my website and on the radio, I just worry if it's enough. I could understand and be happy to listen to someone else's viewpoint for being against it, if their reasoning was legitimate. I could totally understand where Mr. Gloyd and C.O.A.S.T. were coming from if their points were valid and true, unfortunately they feel they have to lie.

Is there anything being done to notify the proper authorities of C.O.A.S.T. and the NAACP's misleading attempts to try and put this on the ballot? Shouldn't the attorney general's office be notified about this. Today Smitherman went on the radio talking about how "Hamilton County" must vote against this. I thought this was an amendment to the city charter and had nothing to do with the county. Going over the language of this petition and initiative is it even likely that if it gets the right amount of signatures that it will actually go on the ballot and is anyone doing anything to combat this garbage? I'm fed up and tired of the Jason Gloyd's, Chris Smitherman's and C.O.A.S.T. spokespeople going out there and misleading people into signing their petition. Something needs to be done.

Sherman, Ram23, Rando and I finished off a case of Three Kings and some other drinks on Saturday night on the roof of a Vine St. apartment building before walking down to the U.S. Bank Arena. Sure would've been nice to take the streetcar instead of stumbling to the Cyclones game!

This. Is. Awesome. The truth revealed. When I argued against Gloyd's comments on Cunningham's WLW show I found it very strange that someone could be that stupid and really think that this was a "coal powered trolly." Turns out they're not stupid, just greedy and waiting for their kickback. Streetcars here we come, suck it Smitherman!

Please...indulge me...how would the streetcar allow the homeless to move in?

Awesome! Well done!

Uh, what? I would consider it closed considering the building was boarded up and no longer producing anything. Schoenling makes smoothies?

"Return to Hudepohl Brewery and climb to the top." That was the goal of Sherman, myself and some friends. Back in January Queen City Discovery updated with a set of photographs and historical information about this local Cincinnati brewery that has been abandoned since 1985. Due to the cold, Sherman and I never went any further than the basement in January. This April we went back and went to the top, the result yielded some interesting photographs of the city: - Inside - Abandoned equipment -Self portrait on very sketchy stairs. Check out the full blog to read about these stairs. -More inside. -Almost to the top A small sampling of photographs from the top: For more photographs and a more detailed write up of our adventure, check out www.queencitydisco.com Edit: This came up in the last Hudepohl thread; yes, you can still purchase a form of Hudepohl called "Hude Delight" at local area Krogers. As far north as Middletown, that's the furthest I've been when buying it. It's not too bad. Cheap, but I enjoyed it. I'd take it over Naty light any day. Not that I know about anything concerning beer...at least not for another year :) Modified by Sherman: Replaced Seicer with Sherman.

Great photos Rob. That stadium sure has come along quite nicely. As a kid I used to go to Fort Wayne in the summer time every other weekend to see my mom's side of the family. I can't tell you how many Wizards games I went to. While this stadium certainly is nice and I'm glad they moved their location downtown....the new name of the team sucks. I love how when I was in Fort Wayne this past December, visiting family, my relatives kept referring to the team as "the pot heads." Allen County Memorial is also a great venue in Fort Wayne. They have done a great job keeping that place updated and the hockey games there, while minor league, are AWESOME to watch. Go Komets!

To follow up on my on-air discussion with Willie on the Big One (aka Bill Cunningham on 700 WLW), I took on his challenge to go down to Over-The-Rhine at midnight. Check out the photographs and audio in today's update at www.queencitydisco.com. I also cleared up some of the crap that C.O.A.S.T. fellow got wrong. Thanks for the idea Thomasbw! I kept it in mind and utilized, check out the update to see the photo.

^Thank you So it Goes! I did, but I'm about to go out the door for work. Cunninghams podcast will be up later tonight and you will be able to listen in case you missed it. Basically I don't think I changed his opinion but he was respectful and listened to my comments and I hope others out there heard me. He challenged me to go down to 15th and Vine tonight at midnight....so I will....and I'll take photographs and update my website later.

His podcast will be up later today.

I'm on hold...about to go on. "Ronny from Fairfield." Sorry to double post.

Wow...is anybody listening to this? The COAST guy is a blatant moron. I'm trying to get through on WLW now.

Yesterday I was at work. It was sunny, 70 degrees and I was helping to do some work on Uncle Rando's favorite Kings Island ride: The Log Flume. Last night the rain came and today I found myself shivering in the upper deck of Great American Ballpark as the Reds played a great game, but ultimately lost to the New York Mets: Despite the shitty weather today was a great day and it was good to see some baseball. And despite the Reds loss at least we weren't embarrassed like the Cleveland Indians were today... :-D Btw, new scoreboard is AWESOME. A few more photographs from opening day can be seen in the latest post at www.queencitydisco.com Thanks for checking these out.

^Actually I'd bet the mall closes before Bass Pro does. Bass Pro seems to do really well and draw in a lot of visitors throughout the region. I had to attend a safety workshop for my employer last summer and many of the people I work with would be considered "blue collar" and I'd wager to say nearly every person I work with enjoys hunting or fishing as a pastime. Nearly every Sandusky counterpart I met during this workshop thing asked me where I was from and then proceeded to say "Ah, i know Fairfield, that ol Bass Pro Shop is down there, do you hunt?"

I can't speak for the Dayton Mall, but back in 2006 I was at Tri-County Mall with a friend. I took a photograph of the reflection of the sun on the glass panes of the outside of the mall while I was in my car in the parking lot, then stepped out to photograph a passing train on the tracks near the rear of the lot. Within minutes of the trains passing an Allied Barton security vehicle pulled in front of me and the security guard popped out to ask what I was doing. He was actually really nice and just said not to go near the tracks because they were private property and the only reason he was watching me was because often kids will cut through the malls parking lot to go grafitti on the sitting trains or the underpass. He was nice and left me alone. Within a few more minutes another Allied Barton SUV pulled up and demanded to know what I was doing. The security officer asked to see my I.D. and the pictures I had taken. I took out the memory card, told him he had no right to see either one and that he can't block my car in. He got an attitude and informed me he was the security supervisor, I said I would only talk to a real cop. He kept demanding to see my ID and I once again asked to see a real cop. Well a few minutes later a Springdale Police Officer rolls up and talks to the security guards then talks to me. He was really friendly and then explained to the security guards that I was photographing a building in public view, but since I was on their property they had the right to ask me to leave, but absolutely no right to demand to see my ID or the camera. It was rather funny seeing the "supervisor" shut up real quick when the cop was speaking. I have some respect for mall cops, they get teased and have to deal with stupid kids and shoplifters all day, but these guys lived up to every stereotype. Don't go back and bother them, they're just doing their job albeit humorous and they obviously have nothing better to do, but it's not worth going there just to piss off or 'spite' one of them. The woman on the segway was just following her procedure, although it's a dumb one. I did stop and did leave, because they have the right to ask me to stop and leave their property, but I'm not obligated to present my ID to any of them.

Thanks for checking these out everyone. I'll have to look into those ferry's in Augusta and Fly.

Yeah, I know it's technically called "Cincinnati Mall" now, but it was recently better known as Cincinnati Mills. Since 1989 this mall has struggled finding it's niche and I think it's finally spouting it's death notes. Despite millions in renovations and all kinds of different concepts, the place has finally been purchased by a realty group bent on selling parcels of the land for redevelopment. I grew up near the mall and have seen it change over the years and it's kind of sad to see it fail yet again. Recently I began photographing it in hopes of documenting it's final decline. The security folks don't like photographs too much so I was asked to leave :roll: But you can read about that and a more in the latest update at www.queencitydisco.com as well as see more photographs. Heres a few of my favorites though: -The one are that actually has stores. -Look closely you can see names that used to be on this sign. -You can see a woman packing up the last products for American Eagle in the right hand shop. -Food Court -left one recently closed, right one is still open. Ever wondered what it would be like to be in the mall from Dawn of the Dead? Check out www.queencitydisco.com ! Thanks for checking em out guys! :-)

Wow, some great, unique angles of a bridge thats photographed all the time. Way to mix it up! Definitely the sexiest bridge in Cincinnati/NKY. I wish they would do tours to the top.

I really hope they use that money to invest in some light rail lines for the transit center similar to what Seattle just recently did in their downtown transit tunnel.

Thanks for checking these out everyone! Make sure if you're ever in the area that you take the ferry, it really is pretty cool. There is a closed up ice cream stand on the Ohio side, I'm not sure if it's closed for the season or closed for good, but I'd love to open that up and put a big sign right next to Anderson Ferry Rd. and attract people coming off of the ferry. Enjoy the breeze on the river, then go enjoy some cheap ice cream.

Interesting. I've been wondering if that middle section of the span was wide enough to handle streetcars or light rail. In looking at photos of the bridge, it looks like a pretty narrow squeeze, but it's been a long time since I've seen it up close. I'm not sure how wide the modern Skoda vehicles are in comparison to the pedestrian path on the Purple People Bridge, but looking at these photos you can see... ...the unused freight line could be modified to carry streetcars. Put one track on the freight line, the other in place of the pedestrian path here... ...then you have two tracks leading directly into Newport on the levee with right of ways on both sides of the bridge. You'd also be able to keep the main pedestrian walkway. Photographs by me, from "Cincinnati's Forgotten Railroads" update here: http://queencitydiscovery.blogspot.com/2009/02/cincinnats-forgotten-railroad-history.html

Just six miles west of downtown on one side of the river and a few minutes north of CVG on the other side is the Anderson Ferry. Providing a unique, historical alternative to the interstates, the Anderson Ferry takes passengers across the Ohio river. I had the opportunity to spend a few shifts with the crew of the ferry for a recent photo essay I did for school: These are just a small sampling of the photographs I took for the essay. To read the full article about the ferry's history and current operation check out the latest update at www.queencitydisco.com. There's also a slideshow which features audio interviews with the crew! Thanks for viewing!