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News

Keep the heart strong

Neighborhoods are what makes cities great, and strong/unique neighborhoods is one of Cincinnati’s greatest attributes. With that said, those neighborhoods stand little to no chance at survival without a strong core…and in Cincinnati’s case that couldn’t be more true.

Cincinnati’s center city is more important to the Cincinnati region more so than most other regions. The reason is pure and simple…a higher percentage of the region’s jobs are in the core, and more so than in most regions (sans Pittsburgh, Boston, and a couple others).

We need to constantly work at maintaining our strong neighborhoods, but we can never lose sight of what enables those neighborhoods to be what they are. Cincinnati’s center city is the economic engine that keeps our neighborhoods great.

It is understandable for neighborhoods to get upset over what they may perceive as special treatment towards the center city in terms of attention and investment, but really when we invest in our core (see streetcars) we are also investing in the rest of our great neighborhoods.

Photo Credit:
Celebration! by Alex Peppers
Part of the Capture Cincinnati collection

Categories
Arts & Entertainment News

Andy Brown Trio at the Blue Wisp

The Andy Brown Trio will be performing at the Blue Wisp Jazz Club this Thursday, April 10th at 8:30pm. The trio consists of Andy Brown (guitar), Rob Allgeyer (organ), and Ben Cliness (drums). Together the trio makes for some great listening.

Keep in mind this is a Thursday performance, so that means UrbanCincy night at the Blue Wisp. Be sure to go check out the club and the Andy Brown Trio…and most importantly mention UrbanCincy at the door and get $3 off the $10 cover charge.

318 East 8th Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
513.241.WISP (9477)

*Blue Wisp’s April schedule

Categories
News

startriding*METRO

As you have probably seen, the results for March’s poll are in…and they are clearly skewed towards one end of the spectrum. Of the 125 total votes 64% of the respondents said that they only ride Metro a few times a month or never at all.

Due to what I thought was the readership of this site, I found this somewhat surprising, but then after further thought not so much. For full disclosure I must say that I selected the ‘couple times a week’ option. Once I move though that response will most certainly change to a daily ridership as I plan to get rid of my car entirely.

So what’s your story…do you ride often or not so much. And in either case, what’s the rationale? Is it an inconvenience, not your style, or do you really love and/or hate riding the bus? Do tell.

Categories
Arts & Entertainment Business Development News Politics

Best Week Ever? No, but a really good one

This week has been pretty amazing for the City of Cincinnati and OTR:

1. Bootsy’s, Produced by Jeff Ruby is a go
2. Strickland adds more historic tax credits for OTR
3. Outside opens in the Gateway Quarter
4. The Music Now Festival hits the three year mark
5. Rookwood Pottery moves to OTR based on the future streetcar…without even full approval, the streetcar, is already causing economic development to occur.
6. The Banks broke ground
There was also a really good article in the Pulse of the City about the Brewery District

Rendering of Booty’s, Produced by Jeff Ruby – Image Provided

Categories
Development News Politics Transportation

Fight the hypocrisy

The local media outlets have never been shy of notifying the public on how long it has taken to get things going on The Banks, nor have they been hesitant to smear every person/agency related to the project – attributing said delay to them. At the same time the many local naysayers and/or skeptics have been openly critical of politicians, government, non-profits, and even those who support reinvestment in our region’s core. These same people and entities have not hesitated in questioning $25M in City money for a streetcar system in our region’s core.

I do not have a problem with people who wish to keep things in check and/or question authority, but what I do hope is that these same people place the same amount of scrutiny on other things. If we are going to question $25M of public dollars for streetcars, then I surely hope that we question the $2.5B that will be spent on roadway projects this year alone. These roadway projects are not subject to public vote and are simply funded with little public debate or dialog.

Additionally as we all know, The Banks has been 9 years in the making…and the local media has had no qualms with pitting Nky v. Cincinnati in the past, so I hope this same level of scrutiny is passed along to another comparable project in Nky – Newport Ovation.

I applaud local leaders for their dedicated work on The Banks and the Cincinnati Streetcar project. These types of projects are not easily done and often times take many years to accomplish. Keep up the good work.

Photo Credit: Cincinnati Enquirer/Gary Landers