We're Not Dead Yet

I applaud the Enquirer Editorial Board for their call for a revitalized Main Street. Questions abound, however:

1. Why is it time now, instead of a year ago to help Main Street?
2. How do we help Main Street?
3. What kind of Main Street does the collective 'we' want?
4. Who are we trying to help?
5. Is Main Street where we want marquee 'Entertainment District?'
   

Mostly I find this as kind of a 'throw a bunch of stuff on the wall and see what sticks' type of column, bully with calls for actions, but short on specific solutions or even goals. It strikes me as a sense of nostalgia for 1999 Main Street. It's not looking forward, it is looking back, and not learning.

When a few bars close, why are we worried about it? When bars close in Mt. Adams, we don't get editorials lamenting the death of Mt. Adams. Also, in Mt. Adams when bars close, we don't have the police/county/city letting the empty places go to hell with bums, crime, and derelict landlords.

In the tone of the editorial I still get a sense of their notion of morose of the Cincinnati Urban Culture. That notion brings out the negative attitude the Enquirer regularly puts on the city. The article is 'positive' in the sense that the editorial board understands that the city needs an entertainment district with vibrant/hip/edgy activities, but I get the sense that they really don't like having to need it.

Much like my regular laments against the soulless culture of the suburbs, I will repeat that the city is still around, still fighting against the bland and insipid boundaries of the suburban culture, which is being imposed on urbanites by much of the local media. If we are to remain an overall vibrant society progressing forward with new ideas, we can't pretend that we want a vibrant urban core. Instead we must find solutions to make one.