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Stop talking…start doing!

I don’t know how many times I hear from the nay-sayers who continually claim that there is nothing to do in Cincinnati…or that it is a boring place for young people. You also hear, from these same people, about how Downtown and OTR are dead and have no chance. All of these statements couldn’t be further from the truth, but they are said nonetheless.

What I realized in Atlanta was that the bars and clubs weren’t that much better than Cincinnati…but what made Atlanta better for young people was all the damn young people. They were everywhere, and they were active. I saw a lot more young entrepreneurs and movers/shakers in Atlanta as compared to Cincinnati.

My point is that if you want OTR to be cool…or you want Cincinnati to have new fun/exciting things to do. Then DO it already!!! This city has long talked about what we can do, but only in select occasions do we actually act upon those words. I say it’s about time we start putting up, or shutting up. If you say that OTR sucks and are doing nothing about it and have no connection to it…then shut it and move on. If you like to bitch about the poor leadership on city council, and live out in the ‘burbs…then shut the hell up. You can move to the city and then have a voice, until then all you are doing is taking a crap on somebody else’s lawn.

Let’s step it up Cincinnati and start being the great city we are…instead of talking about the great city we could be.

By Randy A. Simes

Randy is an award-winning urban planner who founded UrbanCincy in May 2007. He grew up on Cincinnati’s west side in Covedale, and graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s nationally acclaimed School of Planning in June 2009. In addition to maintaining ownership and serving as the managing editor for UrbanCincy, Randy has worked professionally as a planning consultant throughout the United States, Korea and the Middle East. After brief stints in Atlanta and Chicago, he currently lives in the Daechi neighborhood of Seoul’s Gangnam district.