Haynesm007

^Also, I think when the 5/3 building is reclad it will serve as an impressive backdrop for the fountain.

I hope they bury the powerlines in front of the Bank Cafe building. They are pretty distracting.

^On two separate occassions, I've been walking by the square while under construction and heard conversations similar to this: First Person: "I can't believe they spent $42 million dollars to move the fountain 10 feet." Second Person: "Yeah, that's why this city is so screwed up, what a waste of money." First Person: "They should have spent the money on Over the Rhine or the Banks." Unfortunately, I think it's thoughts like this that predominate. It shows complete ignorance and lack of information on the part of the speakers, but why would they want to read the paper when they can just watch the news and be told what to think? I disagree that people will never come back to the square if it's not held during Oktoberfest. Would it have been optimum to have had it during Oktoberfest? Yes. But c'mon how many people will be coming here for Tall Stacks and Bengals games. There are plenty of opportunities to market the square in the fall. You could have a big event for every home Bengals game. And, it's not like people don't work downtown. Downtown workers will be able to see it and be exposed to it on a daily basis. So, I think it's crazy to forecast the death of the Square because it's not opening for Oktoberfest. Personally, I would much rather have the square done right instead of some half-assed finishing so that it can be opened in September.

^I agree that the Square could use something like a BW-3 and it's a little disappointing that one of our "new out-of-state" restaurants is Morton's from around the corner, but I think Boi Na Braza will be a major draw. I've been to a couple Brazilian steakhouses in larger cities and they appear to be pretty popular spots. I just wish they weren't so darn expensive. You're talking a $40/person minimum at dinner and that's before tips and drinks.

Doug Bolton announced the two new Tower Place restaurants this morning on the 5/3 Hometown show: Morton's and Boi Na Braza, a Brazilian steakhouse. Either way, both are uber-expensive.

Here's a much more in-depth article from the Post. There's no way the bolded quote could be correct, though. Police make drug bust near Aronoff By Joe Wessels At one time you could order room service at the Metropole Hotel downtown, though guns and cocaine were not on the menu. http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060715/NEWS01/607150348

I've had my own experience with the famous (or infamous) Tim Voss. I don't want to get into details but his response to me was unsurprisingly similar to the email you received, mark. After that, I began investigating their prior dealings and found out that our firm had previously represented two clients against MED. That, needless to say, doesn't do much to build my confidence in MED but I'm really hoping that using an outside construction company will really cut down on the issues you and prolix have faced.

Personally, safety and not a lack of marketing keeps me away from Main Street at night. I am fully aware of the bars and enjoy them quite a bit. But, I do not feel safe walking home from those bars at 2 a.m, especially if I've had a drink or two. Over the last three years, my trips to Main Street have drastically decreased and I live only a few blocks away. I usually don't go unless I'm meeting friends or in a large group. It is also one of my last choices to take people from out of town. I don't care what flashy ads you show me or what specials you run. Show me three or four uniformed police on the street, better lighting, and better cab service and you'll get my business again. I think if the bars should be faulted for anything it would be not hiring a small private security force and investing in more lights and signage, not for failing to place ads. This is something the city should be doing if it cared enough but it's obvious it doesn't.

He built it. (in the event that wasn't a rhetorical question)

Funny you should ask. This morning on the 5/3 Hometown Business show Gregory's son was the featured local business leader. According to him, the banquet center will close in December and demolition will begin in January. He didn't say if demolition will lead directly into construction. Everything else he said I think has been said before. The project will include two towers (80 units and 60 units) with ground level retail supporting the residents along with a restaurant or two. Units will start at $400k+.

^ I think rehabbing those buildings should be a priority for the city, among other things. For many people, including first time visitors, it's the first thing they see when they exit I-75. I assume the eyesore buildings have unreasonable asking prices and/or would be expensive rehabs. There's also the issue of parking for the buildings. However, you would think the area could support the rehabs and, perhaps, even demand it. The "Flats District", as Huff likes to call it, is pretty much built out and packed with residents.

I attended the groundbreaking yesterday. There wasn't much to it, mostly just reiterating how good this is for the city. The lone highlight came when Berding and Monzel spoke at the meeting. Christene Schoonover, Ms. Huff herself, introduced the two as Councilmen Berding and Manley having no clue that she got Monzel's name wrong. I also talked with Jay Voss, one of the developers, and he seemed confident that the building will only take a year to go up. I obviously take this with a grain of salt but this was the first time Middle Earth committed themselves to a solid date or time schedule. Plus, Vector, not Middle Earth, will be doing the actual construction and from what I understand they have a good reputation for getting things done. According to their website, they built the Lindner Tennis Stadium in Mason and one of the buildings next to the N.Ky. Convention Center, among other buildings. If it gets done in 18 months I'll be happy. Finally, if Middle Earth can get their foundation permit, digging will begin next week. They thought it would probably be Wednesday before actual earthmoving would begin.

Anyone hear about this one? It's the most random thing I've ever heard of but it sounds like it will be good for the community. Once Evicted from Pizza Parlor Ministry, Nuns Set Up at New Site Thanks to UC Students On June 4, local nuns once forced to move from a former service site will re-establish their pizza parlor ministry in an Over-the-Rhine store front that has been renovated thanks to UC students. Two groups of Cincinnati nuns seeking to open a pizza place as a site to provide both food and workplace skills will open a pizza parlor called Venice on Vine in Over-the-Rhine on Sunday, June 4. The nuns – the Dominican Sisters of Hope and the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur – have been working with University of Cincinnati architecture and interior design faculty and students for two years now to ready the site at 1301 Vine St. At the site, the sisters will re-establish a ministry – a pizza parlor, catering center and computer training space – that seeks to provide jobs and job skills to hard-to-place workers. Also working to ready the site for its new use have been students from Miami University. According to Sister Barbara Wheeler, the Venice on Vine pizza parlor project once operated in a Camp Washington location but was forced out when the rent went up in 2003. That’s when the nuns picked a new storefront location at 1301 Vine St. The new site had to be dramatically refurbished in order to serve their Venice on Vine outreach program; however, the sisters didn’t have a lot of dough. So, they turned to architecture and interior design students in UC’s top-ranked College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning – specifically students working in UC’s Niehoff Studio which is based in Over-the-Rhine. The students – led by the team of project architect Frank Russell, director of UC’s Community Design Center; Terry Boling, assistant professor of architecture; and Carrie Beidleman, adjunct professor of interior design – drew up and executed design plans for the interior of the 19th-century structure. The UC students focused on renovating the site for use as a pizza kitchen and restaurant – putting up drywall, lighting, signage, laying a tile floor, creating a wood mosaic wall, decorative copper screens, a serving counter and an eating counter. The Miami students focused on renovating the site’s training area – laying a new wood floor, cabinetry and furniture. Throughout the project, the students have worked with donated or found materials – mismatched pieces that had to be made into a cohesive whole. “We laid the tile floor as a mosaic not only because it was unique, a very rich design, but also because our supplies were all sorts of mismatched pieces of tiles that were headed for the garbage heap. The same with the wood mosaic wall we created. We didn’t have large enough or sufficient quantities of matching wood to do a conventional job. It forced us to be far more creative than we might have otherwise been,” explained Travis Wollet, a UC graduate student in architecture who has worked on the project since 2004. Wollet first participated in the project as part of a class, then for independent-study credit and finally, simply as a volunteer. “I stuck with it because I wanted to see it through. We’d shown a lot of care in creating the detailed floors and walls, and I couldn’t be sure someone else would care as much about that original work and see it through. So, I just continued to stick with it,” he explained. Wollet’s personal contributions to the project consisted of building the frame for the pizza parlor’s interior light box, installing the ornate wood panels and metal trim that comprise one wall, laying the backer board for the tile floor, and building the frame for a wall counter as well as painting and cleaning. He’s yet to complete his work of installing aluminum edging to a concrete serving counter. The end result is worth all the work, according to UC architecture student Emily Wray, who not only helped with design projects but helped secure donations of tile and wood as well as other materials and services. She explained, “The best part is seeing it all get built. So many projects we might do in school don’t get built. That’s the best part of this project and seeing it realized. It’s real, and it all shows real hand work and individual care.” Of the new Venice on Vine, Sister Barbara simply said, “It’s a work of art.” The UC students completed all construction drawings and bid packages thanks to funding from UC’s Institute for Community Partnerships, supervision by UC’s Community Design Center and technical assistance from KZF Design, Inc., and Brashear Bolton, Inc. In all, about 30 UC students have worked on the project over the last two years. Said Boling, “It’s very important for the students to build what they design, to explore design and construction techniques with real clients, real materials and real constraints. They have only so much budget and time. And yet, the outcome has been fantastic, and that’s probably the best part, seeing the sisters’ reaction… how thrilled they’ve been at each stage of progress.” In addition to the kitchen and dining area of Venice on Vine, the ministry (called Power Inspires Progress) also consists of a catering center as well as a small computer training space. When it opens, Venice on Vine will continue with its ministry of employing and training hard-to-place workers, paying up to $7 an hour. In the past, the venture has employed up to 12 part-time workers at any one time. The sisters will celebrate the completion of the project with an open house from 1-4 p.m., Sunday, June 4. It’s a long awaited celebration, according to Sister Barbara. “We never thought it would take us this long to open,” she admitted. “But it’s all worked out wonderfully. The time spent in refurbishing the storefront was time we then had to write grants to support our work. And, it gave us time to implement many of the design ideas that students developed for us. We needed their ideas since we [the sisters] don’t have design backgrounds. It was the students’ ideas and enthusiasm that often pulled us through.” http://www.uc.edu/news/NR.asp?id=3977

^Isn't the Bicentennial Commons playground underneath the Big Mac bridge?

The survey in the article had a "white non-Appalachian" demographic? I would be interested to see what the survey considers a "white Appalachian." Perhaps it's someone with a molester mustache that drives a Camaro? or MonteCarlo?

I saw The Simpsons episode today where Homer tours with the Hullabalooza tour, a take-off of the Lollapalooza tour. On scene showed a Hullabalooza tour bus come to a fork in the road with two signs, Cleveland to the left and Cincinnati to the right. The bus starts like its gonna head to Cleveland but quickly makes a three-point road turns and head back from where it came. There's also an episode where Homer and Marge are leaving the kids to go on vacation to Dayton, Ohio. Marge shows the kids a tour guide whose cover reads "Dayton, Ohio: Two whole exits of fun".

Yesterday at the downtown stakeholder meeting the DCI reps mentioned that the 5/3 recladding would begin in "summer". They didn't give a specific date and it's hard to tell how firm a timeline this is.

I don't really have a problem with the mayor, in fact, I think he's doing a good job. I also understand the idea behind not having metal detectors. But, what if Beatty had shot Oba in council chambers? Yes it's a big "what if" but it's not outside the realm of possibility. What if someone walked in and fired shots at Mallory or the council during one of their sessions? The best of intentions wouldn't mean a thing in relation to the PR mess that would surely ensue. You may as well set the city back another 5 years if that ever happened. I just think a little prevention could go a long way.

I do think it is a bit hypocritical to remove the metal detectors from city hall and then hire a personal bodyguard. I understand the need for a bodyguard but isn't the need to prevent any kook with a gun from walking into council chambers, or any section of city hall for that matter, a bit more important?

It's new in the sense that the hold is being reaffirmed and that Neyer is stating that they intend to ask for the July 2007 deadline to be extended.

^If that description is accurate I'll bet dollars to doughnuts it wasn't ColDayMan.

Sorry to burst everyone's bubble but according to this week's Business Courier the tower section of this garage is on hold for the time being. Neyer does have a tenant on the ground floor however. Some office furniture store from Bond Hill.

^You're pretty close Cincykidbc1 but substitute "PHIL HEIMLICH" for "COUNTY". The sad thing is that the old city council left such a bad taste in people's mouths that most probably don't realize the new city council is worth a damn.

I think 3CDC should hire the Westin's leasing agent. They managed to draw two restaurants while 3CDC has nothing.

^Although I don't think the movie itself influenced a shooting or fighting, it certainly let to concentration of a clientele Friday that was rowdy and obnoxious. I've been to the Levee many, many times and I have never felt as uncomfortable as I did on Friday. It seems like everytime I go there it gets worse and worse. Each time there are more punk kids with no respect for fellow human beings.