Well, if you are looking for a place to watch the Bengals in Atlanta on Sundays, I used to watch the games with some friends at a bar called Gibney's downtown.  I'm sure they will be there when the season starts.  You're not a douchebag, are you?

 

Well...I can officially say that is the first time I have ever been asked that question.  But no, I wouldn't consider myself a douchebag.  :laugh:

Randy is the epitome of douchebaggery. Glad he's Atlanta's problem, not ours!

Randy is the epitome of douchebaggery. Glad he's Atlanta's problem, not ours!

 

I could sue you for slander/defamation of character...how's that for "douchebaggery?"

Lol what? That was total sarcasm (thought that was obvious since we're friends). Go ahead and sue, I don't think you could get much out of me.  :lol:

It was obvious...I was also kidding.  I thought my response was quite funny too.

I invoke a rule I have about the word "douchebag": If you have never seen or used one, you aren't allowed to call someone that!!!  Now teabag is ok......carry on insulting each other!

^So ColDayMan is allowed to call people that and not us?!

Well...I can tell you that David is free to use the word at his disposal then!

 

EDIT: Dangit, David beat me to the punch on that one

>Jmeck, any recommendations on Emerson?  Books to purchase, and what not?  I'm looking for something highbrow to order along with the third season of The Office so the mail-handlers don't steal my DVD, and your quote has peaked my interest, both intellectually and as an extremely chauvinistic American.

 

Try White Noise (1985) by Don DeLillo: 

 

http://www.amazon.com/White-Noise-Penguin-Great-Century/dp/0140283307/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8071181-8980141?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186690934&sr=8-1

 

And another oldie-but-goodie, Air Guitar (1997) by UNLV art history professor Dave Hickey:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Air-Guitar-Dave-Hickey/dp/0963726455/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8071181-8980141?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1186691263&sr=1-1

 

I wouldn't advise reading the above book without a thorough (working) knowledge of the music of the Rolling Stones. 

 

Also on the subject of travel, "The Wild Years", a collection of Hemingway's articles published when he was a European correspondent for the Toronto Star (before he wrote his first novel, A Farewell to Arms), is pretty interesting.  For a 23-24 year-old, he was an incredible writer; too bad the older he got, the phonier he got.  One article I remember makes fun of the much-celebrated Paris cafe scene, it's exactly like how the the whole hipster thing is now.  In another he simply describes his first airplane ride, in another he describes trout fishing in remote parts of Quebec.       

 

Well clearly then as soon as Williamsburg, VA stops conspiring against us and lets up live there then the coolness quotient will go through the roof. YPs and the creative class are now officially relocated to Wburg, VA. Boo-yah!

So listening to NPR this morning there was a local report that Mayor Mallory indicated the City was negotiating with a retail business that was initially contacted on his trip to Las Vegas to bring a store downtown.  According to the report, he would not name the store.

Poll:

 

What do most people prefer?

 

A city that "grew up" in the sunbelt, post WWII, when the automobile was king and when market forces drove suburban development, in such places as Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta; where people continue to move to in huge numbers regardless of the so called lack of urban living that everyone seems to want and desire so that they can live like people in Europe? (according to everyone on these blogs)

 

Or...

 

A city like Cincinnati that had the fortune of developing in the pre automobile years, yet can't get their shit together and continues to have a metropolitan area that barely has any in migration and rants and raves about a wopping 1,000 person increase over five years yet can't get enough support to redevelop a downtown (yes I agree it's gotten better) that theoritically could be the envy of most other average midwest cities; and of course we  can't forget about our cherished Over the Rhine, that great neighborhood that has had "potential" for 20 years, yet lacks the market forces that will ever support its revitalization and true comeback?

 

Just a question...devil's advocate time..

 

Most people that I have met in Atlanta (that have moved there as part of the huge numbers) complain about the things that they miss from their former home up north.  Top complaints...poor cultural support for the arts and what not, unwalkable communities, driving times/congestion and finally no real downtown.

 

Bottom line is that people will go where the jobs are, and at this stage in history the jobs are down south.  Like I have said before, what else have these cities done to attract this growth (other than cheap land/labor)...my answer is nothing.  You have admitedly said that Atlanta was a dump pre-Olympics, and to be quite honest there is still work being done to fix those issues.  There you go...I said it, Atlanta has had potential now for 10+ years following the Olympics.  They still haven't created a safe, vibrant downtown in my opinion.  Sure there is a lot of infill going on...but as far as Atlanta (and any other southern city for that matter) is concerned, another 20-30 years of infill will be needed to make these places great as they so claim to be.

 

I have met tons of people who echo the same statements...as soon as they get to a point in their career where they have a choice, they are getting the hell out of Dodge (so to speak) and returning home to the Northeast/Midwest.

 

People do desire to live in cities with European style attributes (plenty of surveys that support this very idea), but those desires play second fiddle when it comes to putting food on the table.

Cincinnati or Atlanta??? ...

 

... Cincinnati any day. Of course I'm not being hypocritical either, because I do live in Cincy.

If you're from the suburbs, Atlanta isn't really all that different except the traffic congestion (as if Fields-Ertel and such are a walk in the park). Oh yeah, and the beastly super-ugly women that work the late shift at Waffle House.

Oh yeah, and the beastly super-ugly women that work the late shift at Waffle House.

 

Are you talking about the one on Peachtree? :)  I have a friend who grew up in Atlanta, went to a large university in a small college town and then moved BACK to Atlanta for a job.  Granted some people find it appealing.  I like to call it "The Dirty South"  Growing up in SC, I went to Atlanta a lot and I find Cincinnati so much more appealing. It has charm and history and lots to offer.  I don't get the same warm and fuzzy from Atlanta. 

Convergys puts top HQ floors on office market

 

Businesses in the market for class A office space have another downtown option as Convergys Corp. has offered up the top two floors of its Atrium One building.  Convergys said the available space, the 19th and 20th floors, is not a result of job cuts or failure to meet job creation requirements outlined by the state when it approved tax credits to keep the company in town back in 2005.

 

"We've made the space more efficient," said Lauri Roderick, Convergys spokeswoman. Since the company bought the Fourth Street building and moved its headquarters there in early 2006, it has renovated the building to better suit its needs. Roderick said the firm still has room to grow despite offering its top two floors.  "It's about the layout of the building, not the amount of jobs," she said.

 

Read full article here:

http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2007/08/20/story7.html

There are some Southern cities that do have an urban core. Richmond, VA actually has a great urban area near downtown that could be a model for a renewed West End. It is mostly two and three story rowhouses.

Sorry...I was on my 4th drink when I wrote that post. Didnt mean to be antagonstic. I love Cincinnati...I would just have to say that it's a very frustrating place to live..

 

Cheers

 

 

My only complaint about Cincinnati is the pervading pessimism. But it is a beautiful city with a lot of character. We have an amazing downtown. It's dense and gets a lot of foot traffic compared to other cities its size.

Richmond might technically be a southern city but it's not a "sunbelt" city...I've certainly never heard of anyone extolling Northern Virginia's weather which I would assume is roughly the same was Washington's which is roughly the same as Cincinnati's. 

 

I've been to all the southern cities and Birmingham is the only one with a downtown that resembles Cincinnati's, although it lacks a river and focus point.  Chattanooga has huge potential, Knoxville is still a dump but has solid potential with very interesting rock formations and lush foliage in all directions.  Huntsville would have an amazing setting if it were actually on the Tennessee River instead of 5 miles from it (spectacular 600ft. wooded hills overlook the river's amazingly clear water), Macon, Montgomery, Mobile, and Jacksonville are all dumps beyond hope.  Of the eastern river cities, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chattanooga have the best settings with smaller cities like Wheeling and Knoxville having a lot of unrealized potential.  The settings of Nashville and Memphis are mediocre, as are St. Louis and Louisville.  Charlotte, Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas are in the middle of nowhere.   

 

 

Having just moved to Virginia, it definitely has a mixed vibe. A little Sunbelt (Hampton Roads), a little Old South (most of the central part of the state), more and more East Coast (NOVA and somewhat Richmond), and some Appalachian.

 

Where we are at in Williamsburg definitely vibes more with the Sunbelt. Decent location but it is hurt by the military dominance in term of so many people without a long term commitment to the place and so many retirees.

 

Chattanooga was definitely one of my fav Southern cities. Their aquarium puts Newport to shame, but in general the history there is great too. Unfortunately it ended up so close to Hotlanta.

Richmond might technically be a southern city but it's not a "sunbelt" city...I've certainly never heard of anyone extolling Northern Virginia's weather which I would assume is roughly the same was Washington's which is roughly the same as Cincinnati's. 

 

I've been to all the southern cities and Birmingham is the only one with a downtown that resembles Cincinnati's, although it lacks a river and focus point.  Chattanooga has huge potential, Knoxville is still a dump but has solid potential with very interesting rock formations and lush foliage in all directions.  Huntsville would have an amazing setting if it were actually on the Tennessee River instead of 5 miles from it (spectacular 600ft. wooded hills overlook the river's amazingly clear water), Macon, Montgomery, Mobile, and Jacksonville are all dumps beyond hope.  Of the eastern river cities, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Chattanooga have the best settings with smaller cities like Wheeling and Knoxville having a lot of unrealized potential.  The settings of Nashville and Memphis are mediocre, as are St. Louis and Louisville.  Charlotte, Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas are in the middle of nowhere.   

 

 

As much as I hate the south I think its safe to consider Louisville (and to some degree StL even though they don't know if they're southern or midwestern) comparable to Cincinnati. Savannah has a good urban core as well. I was actually impressed with Louisville's core, despite it being in Kentucky lol.

Got this from the DRC.

 

DOWNTOWN CRIME STATS FOR JUNE 2007 RELEASED

Did you know that JANUARY to JUNE 2007 STATS for DOWNTOWN show a 11.4 percent

DECREASE in Part 1 (serious) crimes and a 35.4 percent DECREASE in June alone!

Plus a 16.1 percent DECREASE in Part 2 crimes?

District 1 is now in LAST PLACE when compared to the other districts! (Like

golf, that is good!)  The CBD is now experiencing the lowest rate of crime in

the past seven years!

RECALL THESE STATS FOR YEAR-END 2006:

+ For Downtown, Total Part 1 Crimes were DOWN 22.7 percent

+ For all of District 1, Part 1 Crimes were DOWN 17.4 percent.

+ For Downtown, Total Part 2 (lesser tier) Crimes were DOWN 12.9 percent

+ For all of District 1, Part 2 Crimes were DOWN 8.5 percent.

 

That is great news...too bad the media still reports EVERY single crime or even something that resembles criminal activity downtown.  While at the same time ignoring what is going on elsewhere across the region.

I think D3 is now holding the title for most crime!    Not positive about that though!

actually I would assume that D1 didn't previously hold that title, the total population of d1 is pretty small.  actually d3 is in first overall but isn't in first for robbery, murder and assault.  D3 is so high due to the burglaries.

When comparing crime numbers you really have to separately compare QOL crimes and violent crimes.

D3 is huge, I mean they cover a lot of ground!

ok, i dont know which is D3 and am too lazy to look it up.  Could someone just tell me.

Here ya go...as you can see it is made up of Lower/East/West Price Hill, Westwood, Sayler Park, Riverside, Sedamsville, North Fairmont and so on.  It's a pretty large and difficult area to cover.

That's obnoxious!

Most of that stretch between lower price hill and saylor park is just river road.

But there is a lot of truck traffic on 50, as well as, rail lines and a good amount of industry along that corridor.  An area that you need to keep an eye on for suspicious activity.

 

Also please note that criminals obviously jump across Delhi to get back to Cincinnat to commit their crimes.  Obviously Delhi has no connections to the City of Cincinnati.

 

[/sarcasm]

Most of Delhi is nothing more than Price Hill 2.0. It's not the land of gumdrops, rainbows and wonderbread residents would like to believe.

I used to work up at the Western Hills Plaza and when you needed police assistance, be prepared to wait At LEAST 15 MIN.      We had a guy on the pavement one day a couple years back.  I had to hold my knee to the back of his neck for that long.    Most of the time Green twp., Cheviot, or the county police beat them to most of the western area of the district.

 

I have complained about this for YEARS!!!

Here ya go...as you can see it is made up of Lower/East/West Price Hill, Westwood, Sayler Park, Riverside, Sedamsville, North Fairmont and so on.  It's a pretty large and difficult area to cover.

 

the three most populated neighborhoods in the city are westwood; east price hill and west price hill.  those three have 68k of 332k alone.

2nd quarter DCI report is out, generally good news.

 

http://www.downtowncincinnati.com/AboutDCI.html

2Q State of Downtown Report

BY RANDY SIMES | URBANCINCY

August 23, 2007

 

I don't know how many of you get the quarterly emails from Downtown Cincinnati Inc. (DCI), but I do...and I am obsessed with the quarterly reports that they put out on the state of Downtown Cincinnati. No fluff...no shenanigans, just facts. If you would like to receive the quarterly emails as well just let them know. From here though I am going to highlight some of what I think are the most important numbers/pieces of information from the 2Q report:

 

--The CBD/immediate periphery saw 44 condo sales and 9 single family home sales in the 2Q, selling for a median price of $279,032 and $228,000 respectively.

 

--10 new retail establishments opened (including bars/clubs) while 8 retail establishments closed...but in all honesty, a good chuck of the businesses that closed had other issues not related to downtown.

 

--Downtown hotels continue to boast the best occupancy rates in the region (62.6%) and also saw the largest increase in occupied rooms over 2006 (+3.4%). Downtown hotels also boast the highest cost per room ($126.12) and accordingly the highest revenue per room($79.00) in the region.

 

--Part 1 crimes (more serious crimes) are down 11.4% and Part 2 crimes (quality of life crimes) are down 16.1% over the numbers from the same time period for 2006.

 

--DCI Ambassadors assisted 13,858 pedestrians, removed 23,740 lbs of trash, addressed 3,019 instances of panhandling, removed 513 graffiti tags and distributed 3,800 Go To Town Guides.

 

As for development...there is either proposed or under construction:

4,877,160 sq. ft. of space

2,641 residential units

13,800 parking spaces

For a grand total of $1,450,300,000 in total investments.

the 4.8 million sq ft of space would be an increase of nearly 40%

the 2641 residential units would be an increase of over 50%

the parking would be an increase of 37%

promising numbers

Downtown Cincinnati Lures Holiday Shoppers

 

DOWNTOWN - New restaurants, shops and hundreds of holiday events are expected to draw a half million people to downtown Cincinnati over the next two months. A visitor center is also going to be set up on Fountain Square to help visitors find their way to all of the holiday happenings.

 

Local 12's Sasha Rionda has a sneak peak at some of the events.  While this doesn't look like much right now, by November 23 it will be covered with ice and skaters.  Michel Weisenberg, Works Downtown: "This has been a very big success, the skating rink and the tree lighting, brings lot of people downtown, which is really great for our city."

 

Read full article here:

http://www.local12.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=4c8f005d-4891-4b49-ba27-53684d40bed3

Just as a note...DCI has significantly updated their website.  It is much more user-friendly and visually appealing...I also believe there is more information now on the site.  Check it out:

www.gototown.com

 

They also have this great new feature that is Downtown Itineraries...very cool!  If you say there is nothing to do Downtown, then you're a fool.

 

Oh...and one other thing.  Those who live Downtown are encouraged to give their testimonials about their living experience.  You can find the email in the link I provided or you can simply use this one if you want to bypass a couple of clicks:

second quarter report just came out

 

http://www.downtowncincinnati.com/files/uploaded/QuarterlyReportJune.pdf

part one crime down 11% part two down 16%

 

44 condo closings.  9 single family

 

CBD vacancy rate .3% lower than Cincinnati USA average.

 

CBD office space saw a small net absorbtion

 

 

 

Hotel Highlights Year-to-Date (through June 2007)

Market

Average

Occupancy

% Change from YTD 2006 Average Rate/Night RevPAR

(a)

Downtown 62.6% +3.4% $126.12 $79.00

The second quarter of 2007 saw 10 new retail businesses open in the CBD, including:

Tom’s Chicken Pot Pies, Bang Nightclub, Wilma’s Orchard, Poppa Joe’s, Boi Na Braza,

Lodge Bar, Ralph’s Furniture, Mattresses & Appliances, All Rise Café, Cadillac Ranch

and Mythos.

 

Eight establishments closed during this time period: Queen City Plants & Flowers, Inc., Coffeehouse Café, Kun Ying (where was this?), Jalapenos, Atlanta Bread Co., Chambers, Dodd Jewelers

and The Phoenix Café.

 

I will take the new buisness over the old

^ I think Kun Ying was the Thai place that is now Buddakahn's on Vine near 7th.

 

Where is Wilma's Orchard, All Rise Cafe, and Ralph's Furniture?

all rise is near the court house, I think ralph's is on court street, I have no idea about the orchard

Yep All Rise is at the corner of Sycamore and Court. It is just open for breakfast and lunch.

Aren't they about a quarter behind on these releases??

I would assume it takes time to compile/report the data. 

Actually, I'm pretty sure that's the same report published in August of this year.  The names and dates on the files have changed due to the reorganization of the DCI web site.