RiverViewer

Not only were the old schools in bad shape, in need of tremendous maintenance expenses, there were a lot of other factors. For instance, here's an excerpt from the master plan for my local Elementary School, Windsor School: It's 1888 construction, masonry walls, cast concrete floors - there's only so much you can do to update it. Its setting prevents you from controlling access to the site, which is a real security concern they didn't have in 1888; there was no ADA in 1888; there were no parking/traffic flow concerns in 1888, no school busses in 1888. If it were just one or two things, those could be worked around or dealt with. But considering all of those issues, plus inadequate ventilation, plus tiny classrooms, plus what I've read being described as "poor restrooms", plus no sprinkler system, plus maintenance costs, I think building the new Douglass Elementary is a wise use of funds. And I don't believe Windsor is the worst of the buildings they're decommissioning - I don't know the other facilities, but I'd imagine it's probably one of the schools in better shape physically - it looks well maintained on the outside, at least. It's just completely inadequate as a school today.

Definitely plan to! It's on the way to Giminetti's, so I'll be driving past it at least weekly!

As has probably been noted already, the demo for Douglass (Walnut Hills) is complete, and the site seems prepped. I posted pictures of the church in mid-demolishment in July, but it's all done now... Thanks for the round-up, as always!

I live near downtown - Walnut Hills...I can walk downtown in 30-40 minutes, or drive there in 3-4 minutes - but I work in Blue Ash, about 15 miles north. Actually, the commute is really easy. If I leave at the peak of rush hour, there will be a little slow-down right as I get on the highway, and if things are really slow downtown, it may back up to near my exit (Reading), but there are a ton of surface street alternate routes that maybe cost 10 minutes of drive time - if things are backed up, there's always a way around it. So really, except for the raw distance, the commute is a piece of cake.

I wonder if this includes the houses in this picture? I took this from a canoe on the river during Paddlefest (thread with pictures here!), and I took it mostly because I figured that strip of houses could not possibly be long for this world...

Anyone have a picture of the ears of corn up Columbus way in Dublin?

...and some of us don't control where our offices are...I'd love it if our company moved downtown, but there ain't no way in hell I'm going to live in Blue Ash, and I certainly don't plan on quitting a good job...

I guess I always get excited driving through Madisonville - I see nothing but potential there. If I were able to invest in real estate (if I didn't have to call someone with skills to be able to do everything in a house beyond changing light bulbs), it would definitely be in Madisonville. It's just such a great location - nestled between Mariemont, Indian Hill, Oakley - it can't do anything but attract more and more investment...if Oakley is the next Hyde Park, then Madisonville is the next Oakley. Lots of small single-family homes, looking for a little TLC...I'm too in love with the river to live there - hell, if I inherited a house in Hyde Park, I'd never dream of living there either. But I love driving through Madisonville... But I do understand what you mean - it's definitely what I don't see that attracts me, not what I do see...

Would definitely need a tower to get up to the good views, but you're definitely right - that would absolutely rock out. One spot where you could see from Alms Park to Mt. Echo Park...

Ah, I joined the discussion of this on the other thread... I don't know that I agree. The idea of ransacking one neighborhood for the benefit of another neighborhood isn't a good way to get ahead. Not that Mt. Adams will be destroyed without the Playhouse, but any means - but just because one community has a lot going for it doesn't mean it's wise policy to redistribute its assets to other communities. I think it's probably a good move for the Playhouse, definitely - a new theatre anchoring the Banks...and it's definitely a good move for the Banks. But it seems like there's gotta be some way to turn it into a win-win-win situation by replacing it in Mt. Adams with something. I imagine selling the property to private developers would be strongly opposed by the residents, and by most park-lovers in the city - but what other options might there be?

The city could definitely make a ton of money off of it...that location,m 185 parking spaces...could add some retail and restaurant space, add to the mix...that would definitely ameliorate the effect of taking the Playhouse down the hill - but I imagine it such a plan would have a boatload of opposition, since it would be selling parkland to private parties...but good lord, can you imagine what luxury condos on that piece of real estate would bring in?

Hmm...I'm not sure on this. It would depend on what they do with the old Playhouse, I guess. It's a big part of what make Mt. Adams so cool, and while Mt. Adams will still be very cool without it, I hate to redistribute coolness. The Playhouse in the Banks would definitely be great for the Banks and great for downtown, but what would replace it in Mt. Adams? Did I miss that answer in the article?

Actually, that's one of my regular scenic routes...I'll do that, then stop by Daniel Drake Park to take in the overlook, then meander home, one of the ways you suggest, or even dropping all the way down to 50...that diagonal that 71 generally runs just opens up tons of possibilities...I've even just taken Kenwood straight to Madisonville, which is a lot of traffic in Blue Ash and by the mall, but it's nice once you're south of the highway...

I drive probably 15 miles, 20 minutes, against traffic...I definitely don't want to live in Blue Ash, and I'm not planning on changing jobs, so there's not much choice. If you've got a job with dependable hours, some of the odd against-traffic commutes are workable - but I may find out at 4:30 that I need to work until some crazy hour of the night, and simply have to have the flexibility to work as late as I need to. If they moved the office to downtown, I'd be in heaven - but it's just not an option. The crazy thing is that my wife works in the same office, as does a good friend who lives a mile and a half away, and yet we all drive separately every day. Again, it's because of the flexibility - I don't want to stick around until 7:30 if my wife has to finish a project, but I'm done at 5pm...and my friend often has plans right after work (including classes at Xavier)...it's a crazy waste, and we'll carpool sometimes (for instance, if we're leaving at the same time, and I know I don't have to come in early), but as a general practice, the three of us drive three cars every day...

I get to reverse commute, which is great - get on at Taft every day, drive to Pfieffer, then back at night...but yeah, the whole Blue Ash area just blows. Seems like the infrastructure off the highway just isn't sufficient to throughput enough traffic...I've waited through multiple light cycles at Kenwood southbound trying to turn left onto Pfieffer at night heading home - it's like Reid Hartmann and all the feeders are efficient enough to flow way too many cars onto Pfieffer all at once, and it just bottlenecks. Then the access from Pfieffer east to 71 N just sucks, sucks, sucks. But no matter how bad it is, I'm always thrilled that I'm not driving S in the morning or N at night... I think the coolest thing about commuting from the city is that I can get off at any exit from Redbank to 3rd street to go home, without any of the alternates cost me more than an extra 10 minutes in the car. That's great, both for avoiding traffic, and for adding some variety to the evening commute...

Born in Brook Park, moved to Hinckley when I was 5, then college in Cincinnati for a year (CCM), Cleveland for two years (CWRU), Eastlake for two years (Borromeo/John Carroll), then lived in Euclid for a year +, then Cincinnati since 1997...O'Bryonville, East Walnut Hills, Clifton and now Walnut Hills... I voted for Cleveland/Elyria/Lorain, even though we were midway between Cleveland and Akron, because we always faced north - everything centered on Cleveland...

From this post earlier in this thread: The Cincinnati Kid's right - the Lunkenheimer Mansion is just south of the site, and there's no way that's going anywhere. And the hill really starts dropping to the north, where the five houses on Luray are - you'd be starting probably 30 feet lower. But that property up on Alpine could definitely be a possibility - it's a good 30 feet higher than the Overlook's ground level. The listing is still active...

The first unit has moved - the cheapest one (the $500K 2nd floor unit - first floor is common area): http://www.huff.com/web/search/SearchDetails.asp?mls=952469&prop=1110586. I would post some pictures of the site, but 1) there isn't a ton to see yet, at least to my untrained eye - lots of working (starting at 7 in the frickin' morning, with digging and pounding and beeping), but mostly all that's happened is removal of demo debris, pounding some I-beams in, and grading the space. Two construction trailers sit on park property across the street, on a gravel pad with a fence around it - not too attractive, but temporary. Oh, and 2) I hosed my computer up a few weeks back and haven't fixed it yet, so I can't download pictures very easily...but soon...

Absolutely fabulous collection - I love it! Thank you so much!

Actually, a little more data on this...here's every winter going back to 1957/58, showing the number of days where the high temperature, the mean temperature or the low temperature was under 30 degrees. Bad data is indicated by "**". Winter Highs Means Lows 04/05 12 26 75 03/04 11 34 83 02/03 19 49 86 01/02 08 21 76 00/01 17 62 90 99/00 12 ** 81 98/99 11 25 78 97/98 02 12 65 96/97 09 22 68 95/96 ** ** ** 94/95 ** ** ** 93/94 ** ** ** 92/93 07 23 61 91/92 05 21 71 90/91 07 16 62 89/90 17 24 76 88/89 10 22 87 87/88 13 27 74 86/87 06 16 66 85/86 15 34 70 84/85 22 44 76 83/84 23 44 75 82/83 03 12 70 81/82 29 53 95 80/81 16 39 87 79/80 14 37 89 78/79 26 51 88 77/78 40 70 91 76/77 32 59 110 75/76 09 26 61 74/75 03 15 65 73/74 12 29 68 72/73 13 22 63 71/72 12 29 80 70/71 17 39 80 69/70 15 45 101 68/69 12 33 76 67/68 17 45 91 66/67 09 32 84 65/66 16 33 79 64/65 16 32 88 63/64 15 41 92 62/63 19 45 99 61/62 12 34 77 60/61 18 36 87 59/60 11 38 98 58/59 19 41 93 57/58 15 26 81

Using data from Lunken, counting days where the high temperature was under 30 degrees: 2004/2005: 12 2003/2004: 11 2002/2003: 19 2001/2002: 08 2000/2001: 17 (anyone's free to email/pm me for source data, which has been horked from http://www.weatherunderground.com)

Wonderfully done! A great neighborhood...unfortunately, I don't think it's on the rebound, but maybe someday...

Interesting...just ran across this listing: http://www.huff.com/web/search/SearchDetails.asp?prop=1112630 It's 2145 Alpine (the address for the Overlook at Eden Park is 2145 Luray), asking $925K, with this line: "Value is in the land not the house. Full set of approved plans for 10 story 29 unit condo tower w/parking garage. Tax abatement on new project." It looks like this is actually a combination of three lots (an empty lot, then houses at 2142 and 2150), all purchased by "Cosmic Ventures LLC" in 1997 and 1998 - lots outlined in red, with the Overlook project in the auditor's yellow/green hashes highlighting: ...asking a little more than the Overlook folks paid for their property, for less land (.57 acres instead of .841), for a spot with a view that will be obstructed by the Overlook...you thinks folks will wait to see if the Overlook properties start to move first before investing in that property?

You got it!

How about this? http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=39.021218,-84.133687&spn=0.015109,0.029232&t=k&hl=en