^Having a pool and b-ball court near Music Hall just seems inappropriate. A classy park for a classy building is what's needed, lined with market-rate condos.

 

If I want to go swimming I have to pay for it.

There is no pool because of the huge insurance costs involved...I wish people would understand that.  There is an interactive water feature here (splash fountain of sorts), but an actual pool has HUGE maintenance costs and insurance costs.  If there are people willing to pony up that money for a pool...then so be it, but the city (and most cities for that matter) can not afford to continue to operate these pools with the budget constraints they are facing.

 

Basketball courts would be cool, but they inevitably end up looking trashy after a couple of years, and typically end up being areas where fights and what not take place.  It's just the nature of the space...a lot of ego is involved with basketball.

 

Also, in a meeting with the CRC head a few days ago, he was asked if they have looked at getting private funding, and he said no.  He was then asked if they would operate a pool, if we could get the funding to build it, and he again said no.  I think the CRC is devolving.  They were a great asset to this City and the envy of other cities, and now they are planning for their own irrelevance. 

No one from CRC has ever mentioned the insurance costs, and I am not sure where you are getting that information.  The CRC spends 1.3 million each year to run the pools, which is a miniscule part of their entire budget. 

 

The problem with your view on basketball is symptomatic of the overall problem with teenager and pre-teens: No one wants them!  There is nothing in this plan for this age group, which is the age group that people complain about so much that they are hanging on the corners, etc. 

 

^Having a pool and b-ball court near Music Hall just seems inappropriate. A classy park for a classy building is what's needed, lined with market-rate condos.

 

If I want to go swimming I have to pay for it.

There has been a deepwater pool in Washington Park for over 50 years.  OTR currently has 4 outdoor pools (Ziegler, Hanna, Inwood, Washington Park) and one indoor pool.  However, Hanna is a non-swimming pool (4ft deep sprayground) and Ziegler and Washington Park are scheduled to be changed  into fountains only.  Inwood, Fairview and Mt. Adams pools are all scheduled to be removed also.  I think the City is making a huge mistake by destroying this infrastructure that was built by previous generations. 

 

We have asked CRC to consider other ways to bring in revenue, including raising admission rates, but they will not do it.

 

These pools are a great asset and are one of the reasons I live here.  Remove them and you are screwing the families, especially the poor ones who cannot afford private club memberships.

Ah the CRC pools, spent many years working for them. Fifteen years ago Cincinnati had 54 neighborhood pools, it is now down below 40. It is not insurance that makes it too expensive (unless you have a high-diving board which the CRC hasn't allowed for ten years).

 

Part of the problem is that the rules governing pools are much more strict and the requirements to be a lifeguard are higher than they were 15 years ago. Also the availability lifeguards and people of that age around the city has declined quite a bit. It is also important to remember that C-bus has six public pools for the whole city. The fact is that most of the city pools were reaching the end of their lives usually needing new pipes, walls redone, filters replaced, chlorination systems redone. Many of the pools were built originally as empty and fill pools in the mid-century or built with fed money in the sixties.

 

Anyway, Washington Park doesn't seem a particularly good spot for a pool. OTR needs one big pool like Lincoln was in the West End. I'm okay with shrinking the number of pools especially since the population is much smaller. Actually after spending a lot of time in the system, I'd be the first to argue that the whole pool system needs to be privatized.

 

On a related note, LaBotz (quoted in the article) is the not the sort of guy you want showing up in these issues as he is a modern day Buddy Guy.

I'd be the first to argue that the whole pool system needs to be privatized.

 

I would second that!     

 

Say what you will on insurance issues, but pools are a HUGE liability that this city really doesn't need to have under it's belt anymore.

 

 

The public pools are a huge asset and have kept many youth off the streets in the summer on swim teams, diving teams and guard-start programs.  We should be expanding these programs not removing them. 

 

Do you know how much a private pool membership costs? I can tell you this.  90% of the kids on my son's swim team would never have learned how to swim if not for the Cincinnati Public Pools. 

 

I think a large pool, (like the Lincoln Pool), in OTR at Ziegler park is the best solution, however CRC, has new leadership, and new direction, and their new direction is downward.

I would rather see kids and teens swimming and playing basketball in Washington Park than getting in trouble in the streets. 

There is nothing in this plan for this age group

 

It's called a park - it is the plan.  And if kids (high school age+ that are the problem) need something to do... it's called school.  It's called homework.  My parents made me do it, and I went to college and have a job.  I played organized sports (through school, which last time I checked, wasn't dead yet).  I wasn't hanging out at the pool or b-ball court.

Where's pool, basketball court?

 

Well lets see......Vine St. North of Mulberry in Inwood Park, another one on Broadway across from the old SCPA, basketball courts on Main just south of Mulberry (and they can take those).  There is basketball and swing sets at McMicken and Walnut.  We even have our own rec center at Findlay.  How much do we need?  How many swimming pools does the community require?  Prospect Hill got rid of their basketball courts and sent them to Main where it is rarely used there as well.  Does Amberley have a pool?

 

I wish that under the headline "Where's pool, basketball court?" there was pictures of all this.  Perhaps what some need is a map. 

^You did homework and played on your school's basketball team in the summer?  There's a reason there is a spike in crime in the summer...kids have nothing to do, so they end up getting in trouble.  That said, I don't think there should be a pool in Washington Park, but I do think there should be readily available public pools in OTR.

240 day school year

There's a reason there is a spike in crime in the summer...kids have nothing to do, so they end up getting in trouble.

Take a look at the Dist 1 web site at crime stats at E. Clifton and Main, where the basketball courts are located.  You will see a big red dot representing a "hot spot" and for a while, it was the biggest hot spot in OTR.

How much do we need?  How many swimming pools does the community require? 

The minimum should be one, suitable for summer swim team.  We won't have that.

 

Also, If you want a map of the pool facilities, see my website, http://www.citykin.com

I am asking this out of ignorance here but on the site, which one's are considered "suitable for a swim team"?

Ziegler is long enough and deep enough for a swim team.  I believe it is 25 meters (not really sure about that) and 48" deep.  But Ziegler is quite small, and there is no diving obviously.  We have 10' deep and two diving boards at Washington Park now.  Ziegler has a swim team, but does not host meets.  Washington Park hosts meets and has diving lessons.

Once again, ignorance on my part.

 

Ziegler is long enough and deep enough for a swim team.  I beleive it is 25 meters (not really sure about that) and 48" deep.  But Ziegler is quite small, and there is no diving obviously.  We have 10' deep and two diving boards at Washington Park now.  Ziegler has a swim team, but no meets their.  Washington Park hosts meets.

 

I went to a Cincinnati Public School and they had a pool, I have been in other schools with diving boards, is there not alternative for swim teams to utilize these as well?  Plus the Y host sporting teams, and we have a new one in the West End plus the one on Central has lanes and everything. 

 

I guess what I am getting at is there seems to be a huge number of alternatives, but once again, I may be a bit ignorant of the specific needs of a specific sport.

I reread the story one more time a bit closer and something really jumped out me as odd.

 

"There are condos moving in, people have been kicked out of their homes with no place to go," said Josh Spring, a neighborhood resident and employee at Over-the-Rhine Community Housing.

 

yet just days before this is in an article....

 

Local firms that had a hand in developing the Quarter - The Model Group, Urban Sites, B2B Equities and Northpointe Group are expected to sign on for the upcoming phase, Leeper said. In addition, 3CDC is working another nonprofit, Over-the-Rhine Community Housing, for the development on Pleasant Street.

 

So confused :|

If the schools have pools, then I do not have access to them, and they do not participate in the Summer Swim League.  The OTR YMCA does not have family friendly programs or facilities and it is an indoor pool for members only, mostly single men. 

 

The outdoor pools serve a critical need for at risk kids.  They are hanging around all summer, and many of them find a positive outlet in the swim team.  Many times the lifeguards serve as important role models.  Honestly, when I go to one of these swim meets, with these kids wearing donated and ill-fitting swim trunks, trying to compete and learn the strokes, and their friends cheering them on, it almost brings me to tears to see them trying so hard and having so much fun. 

 

The CRC is saying that as an alternative, OTR kids should spend the summer at a dank, indoor pool at the old HUB center, and I'm telling you they won't show up.  It just ain't gonna happen that kids will go indoors for lessons when it is 90 degrees outside.

 

And CRC has basically said the same as you Mike R.  Dr. Merrifield basically said that the CRC should not be providing pools, but other agencies should be doing that.  They basically want to gut an agency that at one time was world class, and bring it down to the level of other cities, like Columbus which has 10 pools.

And CRC has basically said the same as you Mike R.  Dr. Merrifield basically said that the CRC should not be providing pools, but other agencies should be doing that

 

Because I want a dog park and others do not, does that mean they hate all dogs?  Of course not, they just have different priorities as do we.

 

Well I do not want to come across as Mr. Evil in that I want to close pools just to be closing pools.  I am looking at it from the standpoint of overall development of the entire area and is a competitive pool or no competitive pool going to change things.  To a few yes, to most probably not.  We need to find an alternative for any and all children who want to learn swimming or learn anything for that matter but does Washington Park have to have this?  I am not so sure. 

 

When I read stories like this, I tend to cringe a bit because it gives some people the opportunity to slip into a widely read publication, "they are kicking out the poor and stealing our pools"  when that is not true.  Will a handful of kids be able to hold a swim competition at this site, probably not, but will children still have access to a water playground, it sounds like it and will they enjoy it, I would be willing to bet they will.

 

Was the Miami proposal for a 10' pool with diving boards?  And why stop at a pool and basketball?  Where is the shuffle board, horse shoes, swing sets, baseball, football, soccer....etc.  No plan has everything for everyone but are we achieving the overall goal here by what is being offered?

I think the Miami proposal was for a full-size pool with diving boards. 

 

I personally think Ziegler would be an ideal place for OTR full-size pool, but CRC says that is not on the table anymore.  The expanded Washington Park will be so big, it could easily fit 5 dog parks and two pools.  That is not really the issue.  The issue is the direction of CRC and the direction of our neighborhood.  My concern is more the direction of CRC.  The guy you quoted above from OTRCH is more concerned about the direction of the neighborhood.  that is not me.  I want a pool for swim team.  And we currently have one in the park.  The proposal is for none.

 

I think the pool, if one was built the right way, on Sycamore or some other visible location like Washington Park, and operated with longer hours and ammenities, would indeed be an attraction to families and development to OTR. 

 

The current pools, open for 8 weeks a year, and open only 4 hours a day, with no amenities, will definitely not be an attraction for families, but will be a resource only the poor kids use, as they mostly are now.

 

I have nothing against spraygrounds.  I have taken my kids to the two that Hamilton County Parks runs (mostly on Sundays or in August when CRC has closed their pools), and they are fun for the kids.  However they are not much fun for me, and no fun for the pre-teens and teenagers, and this is a serious concern in my opinion.  That, plus the whole learning how to swim thing.

Once again, well said and I agree plus I was not tying to equate you to OTRCH, I was just pointing out that be odd for this to be the position of the organization who is materially involved in the project.  It appears that where you and I diverge is that I am interested in the direction of the neighborhood and not the CRC so much.  You are trying to accomplish a different goal than I am in this conversation so let me say, you certainly have a valid point.

 

^Maybe they have internal conflicts, and maybe that is why Berta was outside the meeting last night with a sign calling OTRCH sellouts.

Maybe they have internal conflicts, and maybe that is why Berta was outside the meeting last night with a sign calling OTRCH sellouts.

 

I did not hear about that.  To me it makes perfect sense that they would be involved, not because OTRCH is selling out, but because 3CDC is trying to provide a mix of housing that is available to anyone.  Call me crazy, but I would think this is exactly what the people who are now complaining would want.  Sorta puts a kink in the "kicking the poor out" argument but it is the argument itself that some live for, not the solution.

Yeah, a sizeable percentage of those units in City Home on Pleasant will be affordable to people with something like 60% of the AMI, and some units (I think) will be rental apartments.

 

OTRCH is even looking for grants to help lower the prices to make them EVEN MORE affordable.

 

This development is not a playground for the rich, so I don't see this as being an OTRCH "sell out".  But I do understand that there's a certain percentage of the population that just hates everything 3CDC does and you'll never convince them otherwise.

Save pool, OTR residents say

BY JOE WESSELS | CINCINNATI POST

November 28, 2007

 

OVER-THE-RHINE - A public meeting Tuesday to gather input about the future of Washington Park became a referendum on saving the park's swimming pool.

 

Residents and concerned citizens packed a room at Memorial Hall in Over-the-Rhine, across Elm Street from the park, to tell Cincinnati Park Board officials how unhappy they were with the decision to tear out the swimming pool and replace it with a so-called "spray ground," a playground with water features.

"We are not begging, we are telling," said Brian Garry, a two-time candidate for Cincinnati City Council from Clifton. "We don't want no stinking dog park."

 

Umm...he's not going to win my heart over with improper grammar.

Seriously though, this pool is not needed.  Ziegler is four blocks away.  And regardless of what a few are saying, a dog park is most definitely needed to form a functioning, family-oriented neighborhood. 

"We are not begging, we are telling," said Brian Garry, a two-time candidate for Cincinnati City Council from Clifton. "We don't want no stinking dog park."

 

Umm...he's not going to win my heart over with improper grammar.

 

:laugh: The poor grammar really annoyed me as well. 

 

I don't have a dog myself, but I think the idea of a dog park is good.

^ As far as i know and if you read CityKid's blog you'll know that Ziegler is going away as part of CRC's Master Plan to renovate and eliminate pools city wide.  I tend to agree with Mike that there should be at least 1 outdoor pool downtown or OTR. 

 

My opinion is I don't mind if Washington Park is eliminated as long as Ziegler or one other is kept.  I suspect that is a feeling of most residents.

 

I like the dog park.  It makes the urban neighborhood even more appealing for dog owners and gives us an attraction other neighborhoods do not always have.

I live in otr ( I know I should update my screenname) and most the people who fight for these causes are bitter, angry wanna-be bohemian old fogeys who think they need a just cause to fight for so they argue about pools and dog parks for a hobbie. seriously they're my neighbors lol. why cant they just consolidate all the tiny elementary schools in otr into the old scpa building? it could more effeciently house the kids and would allow for the addition of features that several small schools alone could not achieve. then those old horrid 60's building could ALL be demolished and used to expand parkland/new developments. (or garages for the street car routes!!!) as for them hating 3cdc for 'hurting the homeless' most homeless people are that way because they are either mentally handicapped or just don't care to work. the hippies solution is to give them change when they ask for it. the intelligent solution is to create a neighborhood where they have a chance of not getting shot and of receiving REAL help getting off the streets which I don't see these smelly old urban-decay activists doing.

I live in otr ( I know I should update my screenname) and most the people who fight for these causes are bitter, angry wanna-be bohemian old fogeys who think they need a just cause to fight for so they argue about pools and dog parks for a hobbie. seriously they're my neighbors lol. why cant they just consolidate all the tiny elementary schools in otr into the old scpa building? it could more effeciently house the kids and would allow for the addition of features that several small schools alone could not achieve. then those old horrid 60's building could ALL be demolished and used to expand parkland/new developments. (or garages for the street car routes!!!) as for them hating 3cdc for 'hurting the homeless' most homeless people are that way because they are either mentally handicapped or just don't care to work. the hippies solution is to give them change when they ask for it. the intelligent solution is to create a neighborhood where they have a chance of not getting shot and of receiving REAL help getting off the streets which I don't see these smelly old urban-decay activists doing.

 

cincydrewinclifton,

 

You may be my long lost twin with talk like that.  Now Mike Stehlin has won me over because one I know him, and two he is arguing a valid point instead of arguing for arguing.  I, like you, am frustrated at the bigger picture, the constant fighting, the constant airing of our laundry in the papers, the constant demonizing of groups.  And we should all be angry at this because when someone like Mike comes along and raises a valid issue, it is dismissed out of hand, even by people like me as just another person complaining when it is not.

 

Some just think that if they can throw enough crap at the OTR redevelopment something will stick but unfortunately it drowns out the valid points at the same time.

 

Neighborhood group worries about park agreement

Foundation says CPS reneging on Washington Park deal

BY JON NEWBERRY | CINCINNATI BUSINESS COURIER

November 30, 2007

 

OVER-THE-RHINE - Even as plans for an expansion of Washington Park seemed to be moving forward this week, the Over-the-Rhine Foundation is questioning the intentions and commitment of a key party.

 

Cincinnati Public Schools owns the 1.7-acre site onto which the park is supposed to expand, after which the inner-city island of green space would occupy the entire block bounded by 12th, Elm, 14th and Race streets opposite Music Hall.

Mike Morgan, executive director of the Over-the-Rhine Foundation, is worried that the school system is broke - voters just rejected a proposed higher tax levy - and that its recent actions have demonstrated scant concern for the Over-the-Rhine community.

The foundation wants the school system to either turn over title to the property, along with another 2-acre tract north of the present School for Creative and Performing Arts, or amend the 2003 contract to clarify its commitment to do so in the future.

Cincinnati Public Schools, in a letter earlier this month to Morgan from lawyer Reid Lemasters, who represents the school system, said it intends to fully comply with the 2003 contract, the interpretation of which both it and the city are in agreement. Lemasters noted that the Over-the-Rhine Foundation is not a party to that contract.

Morgan says that city officials are putting city interests at the mercy of a strapped school system that shouldn't be trusted.

 

This is why every morning I pop a handfull of antacids and ibuprofen before I even think of getting out of bed.  This fight over Pendleton getting to keep its park at ALL COST is wearing thin.  Once again, I like Mike Morgan and this is an issue he adopted from his predecessor so my following comments are more directed at the rest of the Foundation.

 

The Foundation does not speak for me.  I do hearby demand that they change their name to the Pendleton Foundation as that is where their interest truly are.  The hatred and the venom being spewed out by them in a public way needs to stop.  If they are not involved then they are against and this has been evidenced by emails that have come out of Foundation members. 

 

I am for a unified Over the Rhine, a single vision and a single positive voice.  We do not need fair weather residents who when things are hard call themeselves Pendleton residents and when things are going well call themeselves Over the Rhine residence.  How effective is any group from OTR going to be speaking with school board now?   

 

"Morgan says that city officials are putting city interests at the mercy of a strapped school system that shouldn't be trusted.....its recent actions have demonstrated scant concern for the Over-the-Rhine community."

 

Yet this "broke" school system, the same one that just posted a top 100 school in US News and World Report, should just turn over the land so Pendleton gets to keep their park?  Build a new school on the park site!  Sell Rothenburg, sell SCPA, this is what would be best for CPS and for the whole community.  The "scant concern for the OTR community" has historically come from the very same people who claim to care for nothing else.  The Foundation was synonymous with "slum lords of Peete and E. Clifton" which they had to be shamed into selling, that is the definition of "scant concern". 

 

I am tired of reading every morning a rebuttal to the positive news coming out of OTR.  I am tired of hearing from the bitter, hate filled people that seem to occupy this board.  I want to celebrate our achievements, our accomplishments and have a sense of pride when discussing OTR....but am I the only one?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am for a unified Over the Rhine, a single vision and a single positive voice. 

Actually, I kind of enjoy the cacaphony, it is part of city life and always has been.  It is the checks and balances of  dissenting voices and powerfull personalities, etc...Now if the noise and complaining causes gridlock, then, yeah, I'm with you.  The foundation is fighting for a park at SCPA.  If the rest of us don't agree, then fight it out.  They are not going to unify thier vision with yours. 

The foundation is fighting for a park at SCPA.

They fight everything, they fight the park, they fight residents who complained about crime coming out of their buildings, they fought the new owner of Shell so they could get a say in his design, they fight the chamber, they fight the redevelopment of streets like Hughes and a proposed Cityrama, they send out terrible public emails to people from the outside proposing ideas, they demonize 3CDC and Western Southern, they fight everything.  This is more than a dissenting opinions, this is counter productivity.

 

If you have a different opinion about something or someone, there are much better ways to do it than spewing venom.  It makes us all look bad.  Second to crime, our number one problem in OTR is the constant fighting, the Foundation is the first to say it yet they are the first to do it.

 

They are not going to unify thier vision with yours.

Agreed, this is why I say they do not speak for me and should change their name to the Pendleton Foundation.  They could even have a motto "....... OFF!" as some of their board members like to publicly say to people like me that they do not agree with.

^good thing its Friday and almost happy hour.  ;)

And we come full circle:

 

 

 

 

 

Bonus:

12th St. bridge over the canal with the City Hospital in the background.  That's where Channel 48 and the Music Hall garage are.  While it stood having it and Music Hall on opposite sides of the canal must have been quite a sight.

 

Canal at some point farther north, maybe at Findlay:

They can't remake Washington Park soon enough.

 

Stabbing In Washington Park, Suspect Arrested

Reported by: Ian Preuth, [email protected]

Last Update: 6:54 pm

 

One man is under arrest and a couple is recovering after a fight in Over-the-Rhine on Monday afternoon. Police said the incident happened in Washington Park, near the corner of 12th and Elm Streets. According to police, a couple got into a fight and that's when a man intervened and stabbed the boyfriend.

 

To read more: http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=2d5f9298-05cb-4c1c-a710-95cfa1750121

^good thing its Friday and almost happy hour.

And I needed that happy hour to!  Now its Tuesday and I am feeling much better. :-D

Here are some images from about two weeks ago.

 

The view of Music Hall that has opened up at 14th St.:

 

And some views of Republic St., which is a handsome street with a lot of potential.  I hadn't walked down this street in maybe 8 years and it seems totally safe now:

 

 

 

Great pics! i hope that this area starts to turn. I wold love my first home to be one of these abandoned row homes. Does anyone know the availability of these vacant buildings. Do developers own these that are just sitting back and waiting on the area to turn?

^^ I knew about the German anti-semitism, but I never knew they had signs on the streets where the name's changed? That's pretty cool.

Does anyone know the availability of these vacant buildings. Do developers own these that are just sitting back and waiting on the area to turn?

 

3CDC owns a LARGE number of buildings/properties in that area.  As for the rest I'm not sure what their plans are...but 3CDC's are pretty well documented.

Yeah from what the guy who talked to us at the Urban Gateway Quarter said, they buy entire blocks (or almost entire blocks) of property around that area. If I had the money I would definitely buy properties around Washington Park. At this point I'm certain the area will be a great investment.

^^ I knew about the German anti-semitism, but I never knew they had signs on the streets where the name's changed? That's pretty cool.

 

It is actualy the American anti-germanism.  There is a sign at Findlay market about the reaction to WWI in Cincinnati when the german language schools were removed and the German-based street names in OTR were changed.

^^ I knew about the German anti-semitism, but I never knew they had signs on the streets where the name's changed? That's pretty cool.

 

It is actualy the American anti-germanism.  There is a sign at Findlay market about the reaction to WWI in Cincinnati when the german language schools were removed and the German-based street names in OTR were changed.

 

Oops! Thanks for the correction!

^^ Anecdotally, I still remember my grandfather telling stories about how German immigrants and even American-born citizens of German descent where dragged out of their houses by mobs in Covington and beaten when WWI broke out.  I never did figure out if it was a one time occurrence or something that happened a lot.  He was a child at the time, so even he might not have known for sure.  Scary stuff, in either case.

 

 

Those signs are a really cool idea, by the way.  I knew that the street names had changed, but had never seen one of those.  I wish they looked a little more official, though.

There is a fair bit out there on this, but they threw away a ton of books from the public library because they were in German. CPS stopped offering bilingual education in German. Those signs are all over the city, PRidge has a couple of them.

 

One might make the argument that the real beginning of Cincinnati's cultural atomisation can be traced to the combination of anti-German hysteria followed by the anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic 20s mixed in with the Great Migration of African-Americans which unfortunately exacerbated an age-old problem Cincinnati has with race.

Oh yeah, and they tried to tell the Germans and the Irish to stop drinking. A lot of German culture went underground until the early 70s.

^ LOL!

 

I often wonder what this city would be like if prohibition had never happened.  I'm guessing that Cincinnati would be well known for its beer, as several of the numerous local breweries would likely still be in operation.  Of course, it's possible that the rise of the mega-breweries would still have occurred, forcing out the smaller competition, and the "white flight" of the 50s and 60s would have made operating the traditional breweries within the city difficult, but I like to think that at least some of the forgotten breweries would have survived this, possibly slowing the deterioration of OTR in the process by keeping a large work force living, working, and spending within the brewery district.  But unfortunately, that's just a day dream.  On the upside, Christian Morlein is back and is doing as good a job as anyone could hope with reviving the traditional local brands.

On the upside, Christian Morlein is back and is doing as good a job as anyone could hope with reviving the traditional local brands

 

AMEN!

There is a fair bit out there on this, but they threw away a ton of books from the public library because they were in German. CPS stopped offering bilingual education in German. Those signs are all over the city, PRidge has a couple of them.

 

One might make the argument that the real beginning of Cincinnati's cultural atomisation can be traced to the combination of anti-German hysteria followed by the anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic 20s mixed in with the Great Migration of African-Americans which unfortunately exacerbated an age-old problem Cincinnati has with race.

 

I wouldn't say that was the beginning of Cincinnati's cultural atomization so much as the beginning of it's sense of self-doubt and self-hatred.  The political-cultural elite of the town was attacked nativists versus Germans, Roosevelt versus W.H. Taft, the New Deal versus the McKinley Midwest-Northeast Republican alliance, Eisenhower versus R.A. Taft, and then the general decline of manufacturing and the rise of Asia.  Granted, I'm getting out there a bit, but I think that one can make a pretty good case that on nearly every major political/cultural clash of the 20th century, the Cincinnati elite, which had been so successful in the 19th century, lost.  Finally during the lost decades of the 80s and 90s, which were bad for American cities in general and those not part of the "new economy" in particular there was a changeover in the political leadership, which seems somewhat solidified after this past election.  The recent serious beginning of new initiatives that had been stalled for years (the Banks, the Streetcar) are an example of the confidence of the new elite.  Or whatever.