SPAETHC Provides Analysis of the CBD Grocery Shopping Options

SPAETHC from Cincyvoices does some research and provides an analysis of the grocery options in the central business district, aka Downtown. He purposely leaves out OTR, which has a small Kroger's and Findley Market.

He brings to mind a big question: how far away is a grocery store away from a non-downtown resident?  The Newport Kroger and the Corryville Kroger are 5 to 10 minutes away by car. Is that not how long it would take for most people in Hyde Park, Oakley, and Mt. Lookout to get to the Hyde Park Kroger?

Arnold's To Be Featured on NBC TV Show In The Fall

A Cincinnati institution, Arnold's Bar and Grill, will be featured in NBC TV show Harry's Law starting in the new season this fall. There is no other way to say it: This is really cool. The bar and restaurant will have it's exterior used in the show and the interior is being "re-created" in Hollywood for regular use during the series. The owners of Arnold's have sent t-shirts, menus, and other decor items to add authenticity to the set. I am so very pleased for them. Arnold's is one of my favorite places in Cincinnati and is a wonderful image of our city to be seen nationally.  I hope Hollywood gets the place right, it is a unique Cincinnati treasure.

Other locations around the city will be used to give the TV show a sense of the real Cincinnati.  Last season depiction was not a very good likeness of our town.

Countdown for 2012 Wold Choir Games Begins July 11th

The countdown clock will officially start for the 2012 World Choir Games at a Fountain Square event on Monday, July 11th. Cincinnati area native Drew Lachey will MC the 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM event.  Entertainment includes gospel recording artist Byron Cage, The Eleventh Hour Choir from Kettering, finalists in the NBC show “The Sing Off,” and singer and songwriter Kelly King.

There will be an actual clock, housed at Fountain Square that will provide a countdown to the event. I don't think everyone in Cincinnati understands how big of an event this is going to be. Organizers expect 20,000 participants and 200,000 spectators to attend over eleven days (July 4-14, 2012). Most of the spectators will be from out of town, including over 70 countries. That will mean a big boom to business. Hotel rooms will be hard to find. Restaurants will be busy. People from around the world will be enjoying our city.  We will have a chance to show off what an amazing place Cincinnati, OH is and has been for a long time.

The people of Cincinnati need to support this event.

Welcome LULAC!

I wish to welcome LULAC (the League of United Latin American Citizens) to Cincinnati this week for their annual convention.

Check out the Convention website and be sure to thank all of the volunteers helping with this event. It is great for Cincinnati to have a group like LULAC hold their national convention here and bring their message to this part of the country. The civil rights for Latinos is a cause that needs much attention in today's America and I am proud of the work they do. I'm also proud to be part Latino, even if I'm only 1/8th.

New Restaurant Coming to Downtown?

I noticed the signs above while on my walk this
morning. This is on Vine Street between 6th and 7th Streets.

MPMF Announced Indie Summer Series Initial Headliners

The Midpoint Music Festival has announced the initial headliners for the first portion of Indie Summer at Fountain Square.

June 3rd: You You’re Awesome with Javelin and Lydia Burrell
June 10th: Neon Indian with Oberhofer.
June 17th: Maps & Atlases
June 24th: Asobi Seksu with Prussia.
July 1st: Pomegranates
July 8th: Big Freedia

The remainder of the headliners and opening acts will be announced later in the year.

Happy Arnold's Bar and Grill Day!

Today in the City of Cincinnati it is officially Arnold's Bar and Grill Day! Head to Arnold's to celebrate 150 years of a history, drinks, and great food.

The Enquirer has a look back at Arnold's history through photos. Political events run deep at Arnold's.


If you are interested in more Cincinnati political history, check out Boss Cox's Cincinnati: Urban Politics in the Progressive Era (Urban Life and Urban Landscape Series)

Western & Southern Adding 100 Jobs Downtown

WLWT is reporting even more good news for Downtown with word that Western & Southern is adding up to 100 more jobs over the next few months to its Downtown Headquarters. The article reports that the jobs will mostly be in the Insurance and Information Services areas.

City Reaches Deal to Add 55 Jobs Downtown

The Enquirer is reporting that the City has a deal to keep First Financial Downtown for 12 years and add 55 more jobs by 2014. According to the article, First Financial Plans to invest 4 million dollars in its Downtown facilities.

We needed some positive news for the City, so this helps a little.

A Bit More Negative Snark Metromixed In?

The Enquirer's Metromix articles generally are not reviews, as I (or any Food or Entertainment Critic) would define them, but this story about the new trendy club Lunar by Rich Shivener has more snark than we usually get. I like the snark. I like progress Downtown, but let's get serious, I really don't like that kind of club. (Not that there's anything "wrong" with it.)

Another High End Bar Downtown?

I've seen the sign a few times over the last week, but Soapbox has the story on the new nightclub 'Scene'  on Walnut Street with a schedule opening this Winter.

Are we seeing a solidification of Downtown as the nightlife center of Cincinnati, or at least the high end scenester nightlife? We've had such a spread out entertainment spectrum in this town for a long time, with Mt. Adams, Covington, Northside, Main Street, Short Vine, Clifton Heights,Mt. Lookout, and Newport as the main sections of semi-consolidated entertainment districts. Main Street and Short Vine have taken a big downturn over the last 10 years. Main Street has seen an up-tick, but Short Vine has been dead for a while and shows not signs of life. Is Downtown hurting any of these other areas or is Downtown drawing new crowds from the suburbs/Exurbs?

Mayberry Foodstuffs Coming

I'd heard rumors of this a while back, but haven't posted so that the news could break in the traditional media first. As reported by today's Business Courier, World Restaurant Group's Josh Campbell will open an "urban grocery store" at Seventh and Main this November. Josh is currently playing with Mayberry Foodstuffs as the business's name. It'll cater both to downtown residents and to downtown workers who want to take dinner home.

Josh is clearly quite excited by the idea. (And when Josh gets excited, good things happen, as anyone who's been to one of Mayberry's supper club events knows!) The store will be open until 10:00--a blessing for downtowners. Right now, if I want a loaf of bread after 7:00, I have to leave the neighborhood to get it.

I'll definitely have a review once the store opens, but this is obviously a positive step forward for downtown.

And as long as I'm saying nice things about Chef Campbell, I ought to offer two other tidbits:

First, Mayberry's lunch menu changed last week to a fall offering. I haven't tried everything yet, but can recommend both the turkey hot brown and the "Menage a Trois." (The latter is recommended only if you schedule an immediate visit with your cardiologist. The sandwich is the ultimate homage to pork: pork loin, pulled pork, and bacon hot slaw, along with brie cheese and Josh's spicy beer mustard.) The mashed potatoes are also very good--unsurprising, given Mayberry's skill with carbohydrates.

Second, next Thursday (September 30th), City Cellars will host a beer and foodie event from 7 until 10. The beer portion of the evening is dedicated to the 175th Anniversary Hudepohl Amber Lager. On the culinary menu will be dishes from Josh Campbell, including spiced lamb burgers and baby back ribs. Fifteen bucks gets you dinner and three beers. I have to teach that night, or I'd be there. Reservations required.

Get Ready It's Oktoberfest Week!

Get you beer steins cleaned and work on your beer fighting weight. This weekend is Oktoberfest Zinzinnati. The world of beer and brats will be centered on Cincinnati's 5th Street for 2 full days. Don't miss a second, unless you need to relieve yourself, which after a day's worth of beer drinking, you will need to do. Bring your grandma and your dancing shoes.

Continuum of Care Decision: YWCA Should House Homeless Women

The Cincinnati/Hamilton County Continuum of Care for the Homeless has announced that following a request for proposals and a review by a panel of national experts, the YWCA has been selected as the agency to a women-only emergency homeless shelter. The "competition" for the responsibility was between the YWCA and the Drop Inn Center.

The Enquirer's coverage is here.

The announcement, frankly, raises more questions than it answers. According to the Enquirer, the shelter will not be housed at the YWCA on Walnut (where that agency presently has a shelter for victims of domestic violence). I'm not aware of funding having been secured to create a new facility, and there's no mention of where the new shelter will be. But CoC says that all funding for emergency shelter services for women will be directed toward the YWCA. The Enquirer puts that at about $42,000 annually (obviously, not enough to start a new shelter), which it appears DIC will lose in its 2011 budget. DIC, meanwhile, says it will continue to provide emergency shelter for women for years to come.

So:

• Where will the new shelter be?
• When will it open, and from where will the money come?
• How will the need for emergency shelter for women be met in the meantime?
• Is this connected to Pat Clifford's dismissal earlier this month?
• Is this just the first in a planned series of moves designed to eventually make DIC so small as to be meaningless and eventually de-funded out of existence?

We'll see.

Metropole Lawsuit: Not So Fast, 3CDC

As the Enquirer reported earlier this week, the Metropole Tenants Association filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to halt the efforts of 3CDC and others to turn the Metropole into a luxury hotel. The tenants are now represented by preeminent Cincinnati civil rights attorney Jennifer Kinsley, as well as Terence Brennan (formerly Lead Organizer with the AMOS Project). And they've filed a lawsuit that is compelling. I thought many of our readers would be interested in an explanation of the allegations in the lawsuit, and why it could be a major impediment to 3CDC's plans for the Metropole.

Last November, I expressed skepticism that the tenants had a viable legal claim. Back then, according to published reports, the tenants (then represented by Legal Aid) seemed to be arguing only that 3CDC was engaging in race (and perhaps disability) discrimination. At the time, I wrote:

Ultimately, the question comes down to this: once a landlord accepts federal housing money, does that act as some sort of covenant that runs forever against the building, regardless of ownership? Certainly, that cannot be the case. Property owners must be free, assuming they follow the law, to opt out of Section 8.

I've reviewed the tenants' 50-page complaint, and there's more to the story than simply a landlord accepting rent subsidies. According to the complaint, back in 1988, the owner of the Metropole--609 Walnut Ltd. (which, in turn, is owned by Showe Builders Inc.)--executed a mortgage with the Department of Housing and Urban Development. A HUD mortgage--in this context--is a federally-insured loan that gives the building owner an extremely low (1%) interest rate in exchange for using the building subject to the mortgage for multi-unit, low-income housing.

While the lawsuit doesn't go into the history of Showe's acquisition of the Metropole, this decision from the Sixth Circuit does. Showe bought the property back in the late '80's when the previous owner, Mid-Towne Associates, was in bankruptcy. Showe paid $675,000 and assumed a $2.9 million HUD mortgage. I'm guessing that was quite a deal: according to the Auditor, Azeotropic (a creation of 3CDC) bought the building for $6.25 million last year.

When Showe took over the mortgage, it signed a "regulatory agreement" with HUD. According to the complaint, one of the provisions of this agreement was that Showe could not, without the prior approval of HUD, prepay the mortgage. Prepayment is a big deal. As long as the mortgage exists, the property must be used for low-income housing. If the note is paid off, though, the building owner is subject only to the ordinary requirements of Section 8, which means that the owner can cancel its participation in the federal rent subsidy program one year after giving notice to its tenants.

Congress hasn't given HUD unfettered discretion in deciding whether to approve prepayment of a mortgage. Instead, when a HUD mortgage prepayment is subject to HUD approval (not all HUD mortgages require such approval), acceptance of an offer to prepay may only be given where the HUD Secretary decided that the building no longer meets a need for rental housing for lower income families in the area; the Secretary agrees that the tenants have been notified of the request for approval of prepayment; and the Secretary ensures that a plan exists to provide relocation assistance to displaced tenants.

Back to the lawsuit: the tenants say that HUD didn't do its due diligence before approving the mortgage prepayment, and have challenged the decision under the Administrative Procedures Act. (In some respects, this case is analogous to those where an environmental group challenges an EPA decision permitting the construction of an allegedly polluting factory.) It's hard to see how one could conclude that the Metropole doesn't meet a need for rental housing for lower income families in the area. In fact, with the closure of the Metropole, no low-income housing will exist in the central business district. (And the only other low-income housing downtown I can think of is Page Tower--and that may technically be in the West End, since it's on the west side of Central.)

I'm no expert in HUD mortgage regulations. But on its face, the lawsuit raises serious, non-frivolous claims that will not go away quickly. Stay tuned, folks: this promises to be an interesting legal battle.

WLWT Is Living In A Blue Oyster World

In a post yesterday, I remarked that the comically-intended yet nonetheless stereotypical portray of a gay bar in a 1980's movie just wouldn't fly today.

It turns out, such stereotypes are just fine for WLWT, so long as they're meant seriously.

I'm not sure why I watch that station for news anymore. (OK, I do know: a friend of mine is a reporter and I wanted to see her story.) But last night I turned on the 11:00 news. The "Number One" story was about "opposition" to the decision to move the Gay Pride parade and festival downtown this year.

WLWT decided to feature everyone's favorite "community values" activist, Phil Burress. He should be a punchline by now. But instead, there's WLWT, treating him as if he's a serious person. And on camera--unchallenged and uncontradicted by WLWT--he warned that people would be "naked" and "having sex on the street" this weekend.

Part of me wishes he were right; it'd be interesting to watch. But he's wrong. It's bad enough that Burress says such things. It's worse--it's appalling, it's indefensible, it's pick-your-adjective-and-superlative-bad--that WLWT published his views to anyone who left Channel Five on for a few minutes after prime time ended.

WLWT owes an apology to the gay community, as well as to downtown residents and businesses.

A Good Time To Remember The Roots Of The Gay Rights Movement

Today's Enquirer carried an excellent article by Lauren Bishop on the decision to move Cincinnati's annual Gay Pride festival from Northside to Downtown this year. The article mentions in passing the Stonewall riots. It made me realize that while I've always been supportive of--and at times, an active advocate of--GLBT equality, I know very little about the history of the movement. In fact, until yesterday, I didn't even know why some gay rights groups organized under the name "Stonewall."

A brief summary, for those of you who don't know. (And a link to more information, for those who are interested.) In 1969, New York police raided a a gay bar. The reason for the raid? Well, it was a gay bar. That night, the bar's patrons, tired of being hassled by the police, responded with violent protest. The name of the bar: the Stonewall Inn. The event is largely credited as being the birth of the modern gay rights movement.

It can be easy to forget that not so long ago, police could harass with impunity an establishment simply because it catered to the GLBT community. I was born in 1974, and even in my lifetime, gay rights have come a long ways. Think about the stereotypical portrayal of a gay bar in Police Academy, made in 1984. I don't think a mainstream movie would get away with such a scene today. In fact, fast forward about twelve years to The Birdcage (a movie with some pretty bad ethnic stereotyping), where gay culture is presented as normal and Gene Hackman plays a Republican who is presented as out-of-touch because he is disapproving of his son-in-law-to-be's gay fathers. And this year, there are gay pride banners hanging from lamp posts on Fifth Street.

A schedule of events for this year's gay pride events--called the Equinox Festival--is available here.

Passage "Sneak Preview" This Weekend

Passage Lounge, at 6th at Main, will have a "sneak preview" this Friday and Saturday night. I'm not sure what else to say about this. Griff was excited about this back in October.

"Upscale lounges" generally aren't my scene; I'm neither hip enough nor pretty enough for such escapades. But I usually like to wander in once, just to know what all the fuss will be about.

So I think maybe my plan for Friday is to go watch the Pomegranates at Fountain Square, then head over to Passage to check things out.

Good Eats: Main Event

With a couple of friends, I stopped by Main Event for lunch today. (That link will eventually redirect you to the restaurant/bar's Facebook page, as its website is still under construction.) Griff posted about it back in April, before it opened; there's some help additional information in the comments. Main Event is at 835 Main Street--the old Lava Lounge, next to what used to be Bouchard's (and before that, Burrito Joe's).

The lunch menu was simple, but has some good food. The place offers sandwiches, salads, and freshly made pizza. All three of us opted for a sandwich, and all of us agreed that they were made of fresh ingredients and tasty. Their pulled pork and BBQ beef sandwiches both come on pretzel bread buns. I had a "Wellington"--roast beef, a potato cake, Colby cheese, and some sweet-and-sour sauce served on a Kaiser roll. It was probably the only truly original sandwich (most were clubs or straightforward, single ingredient creations) on the menu, and I'm glad I tried it.

Service was fast and friendly. It's definitely a good spot to hit on the way out of the courthouse (or on a lunch break if you're stuck in/work at the courthouse all day). And the prices are right: my sandwich, chips, and a pop cost $7.50.

Main Event is also open late at night. The bar was clearly well-stocked. The venue features a fairly large dance floor with a DJ booth. Our server ran down each night's theme for us, all of which I promptly forgot (one night is 80's music). But it sounded like it might be worth checking out.

Earthquake Felt This Afternoon In Downtown Cincinnati

Griff and I don't consider ourselves reporters, but I thought I'd break that rule for now.

A few minutes ago while on the sixth floor of my ten-story office building, I began to feel a rocking sensation. It seemed as if the whole building was rocking back and forth; it lasted for about 30 seconds.

My Facebook page is lighting up with similar reports all over downtown. I've heard from friends in Buffalo who say they felt something at about the same time.

This felt like a slightly stronger version of the minor earthquake we had early one morning a couple of years ago.

UPDATE: 700 WLW is reporting that this was the result of a magnitude 5.5 earthquake near Ottawa.

UPDATE 2: Here's a report from CBC News confirming the origin of the quake.