Civvik

Does that mean they pay taxes?

I believe this is also the root of the "if you want transit, take the bus" argument. I rarely sense that people who say this are genuinely suggesting that someone take the bus if they want to loosen the reins of car living. "Take the bus" comes off as a challenge to do something distasteful and degrading; a penance to be paid for veering outside of the suburban lifestyle. It also speaks to the financial criticism of rail transit as an expensive toy: it's hard to endorse rail at any cost when you think urban living doesn't have value.

He is always harping on the taxing district but ignoring the current plans that will cover the costs which is parking and a portion of the property taxes are forgone on abatements to pay for it. I believe that is around 7.5%. Also another benefit to all these new buildings coming a long is even though a lot are abated, they are still giving 25% of their taxes to the Cincinnati School District, and I don't believe those are capped. Property taxes are most definitely capped, so abating those properties in OTR and downtown for 12 years absolutely does not cost any other neighborhood in the city any more money, is that correct? Because since property taxes are capped, other neighborhoods don't pay more to make up for it. Once those abatements start running out, the rest of the city will pay less and less as more money is flowing from downtown and OTR. Now that is a benefit to the whole city, no? I wonder what his response to that would be? The only healthy response to Steve Dieters is to have him change his diaper and get out of the house for a bit. He wrote the textbook for Concern Troll 101.

I wonder if 3CDC's long game is to build so many freaking garages that they drive the surface lot owners into selling out of the business.

Really? I always think of shitty weather when I think of Bockfest. It's still March and we're still (barely) in Ohio.

Given what they started with, Rookwood Exchange turned into one of the worst mixed-use developments I've ever seen anywhere in my life. And I've seen quite a few.

In Orlando at least, when I lived there, summer was the quieter season.

It's a high pressure system, as far as I know. The same kind that make those spectacular 70 degree clear days in early or late summer. Also extremely cold air masses like that don't have the capacity to hold moisture, so, yeah. Death.

I was outside at 6am the night in 1994 when it went down to -24 in Cincinnati. It was so cold that you felt hot. There is a lot of range in how it actually "feels" when temperatures get from 0 down to -10. Some -5 mornings feel much colder than others. One of the only days where the "throw a boiling cup of water in the air" trick actually worked.

You could say that Charlotte and Atlanta don't have historically dense urban cores like Cincinnati, but that doesn't say much because MOST American cities don't have that. MOST American metros are also growing much faster than Cincinnati. This really makes comparison of little value. Charlotte type cities have crappy bones but healthy market demand (+450,000 MSA/10 years), making it easier for urban developers to build more expensive, riskier projects. Cincinnati type cities have wonderful bones but anemic market demand (+130,000 MSA/10 years), putting developers in a weird position of being surrounded by an embarrassment of historic riches but barely able to cobble together financing for entry-level quality urban infill, especially when its not supported by large institutional backers like UC or state and federal grants. I think Cincinnati's current direction of slow, thoughtful, mid-level renovation of its historic city neighborhood centers is the best match for the region's circumstances. We could build out 5 streetcar lines in the next 10 years, but I don't know that the growth would fuel much action on that much infrastructure at once. I mean, even the Charlotte south line is taking time to build up that corridor.

Aww, people don't like getting kicked out of their rental. News flash, nobody likes getting kicked out of their rental. Too bad, you didn't own it.

Yesssssss

219 Wade just hit the market (I was wrong, it's $530K): http://m.cbws.com/property/details/256362/MLS-1434338/219-Wade-St-Cincinnati-City-Downtown-Area-OH-45202 Urban Sites is selling 208, 212, 214 and 215 Wade St. Listed by Bill Draznik? Doesn't he co-own A Tavola?

True to John's word, I looked at these pictures before I read the text and thought "what exactly was he taking a picture of?"

That'd be cool, but I'd like to see as much density as possible in OTR. I've lived in Mt. Adams for about two years now, and after extensively walking around, I've come to the conclusion that the neighborhood is much more structurally dense than the population reflects. There are very few vacant lots in Mt. Adams, and almost all of the structures are occupied, yet the street life and other 'symptoms' of density are both pretty lackluster. I attribute this to a lot of structures that were formerly multi-family being renovated and converted to single family homes over the years. While a lot of these renovations have led to some pretty spectacular residences, it has created an area that is largely unable to support itself. OTR is obviously a much larger neighborhood and it doesn't have the same geographic restrictions as Mt. Adams, but I still think it's important to press for density. It's great to have a mix of housing styles, but it seems like OTR has had a surge in single family housing, which I hope doesn't become a trend that eclipses the apartments and condos that fueled OTR's early renaissance. I think about Mt. Adams this way: It's very isolated. In a normally functioning city, that's a liability because cities are about maximizing exchange while minimizing travel. In the very abnormal 1970s-2000s, this isolation from the rest of the city was an asset, so it gentrified. Now that cities everywhere are starting to behave normally again, this isolation is once again a liability.

The issue with Second is that it's really an approach to the interstates, and the state might have expectations (requirements?) that there be so many lanes of approach as they transition to ramps. What we got with the FWW reconstruction was a step in the right direction, but not the holy grail of taking freeways out of urban cores.

Pretty much that. Its history has been neglected for decades, all it needed to be great is redevelopment and repopulation.

Replanning the mall property in Tri-County would make a GREAT urban planning project at DAAP.

You can see this building from 275 East at Loveland. It's pretty cool. There aren't that many long views of things in the suburbs.

Hmm. Interesting. I love Rhinegeist and Madtree, I think they're great, memorable brewery names. Who's going to remember West 6th? At least they aren't as bad as Toxic in Dayton. I mean really, what was he thinking? Nice guy though, and I love his Belgians.

If these places took reservations it would be different. But they don't, and Cincinnatians aren't accustomed to waiting more than 45 to an hour for a table at a restaurant. OTR on the weekends gets up to 3 hours at dinner time. Although lately it's gotten a little better as more competition has opened up.

Taft's Ale House is really coming along (finally). 3CDC's latest photo update here:

Does anyone else have the feeling Cranley neutered this one for his local developer donors so they could move their own projects along?

Exactly. Duke's business model is building infrastructure and then using that infrastructure to sell us gas and electricity. Why should the city give them brand new electric and gas lines for free, and allow Duke to profit from them for the next 50+ years? A good compromise might be something like this: If the utilities have 20% of their useful life left before they need to be replaced, the city should only pay 20% and Duke should pay the other 80% of the replacement cost. I find it hilarious that people took Obamacare to the Supreme Court because it was going to make it illegal to not buy health insurance. Ever try building a house and not hooking it up to utilities?