Cincinnati Blog

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Taste Moves to 5th Street

The Taste of Cincinnati is moving from its long time home on Central Parkway five blocks down to 5th Street.

My take is that it's great idea for the festival and for downtown. It will showcase the Square and bring more people in who may think of staying the night. I believe we are starting to see the impact of the new Fountain Square. We are starting to see the center of a new mainstream entertainment district form in 4th to 7th street areas. The area is compact enough for people to walk, but spread out to not have an over dense bar zone. I would have gone to taste anyway, but now I am more interest in going and will likely come down multiple days, if the music is as good as has been the past. (Get the Heartless Bastards to play again!!!)

More from WLWT and the Enquirer.

Friday, March 23, 2007

More Downtown Progress?

Today's paper reports the possibility that Jeff Ruby and Bootsy Collins will open a restaurant downtown, another one in the case of Ruby.

I am sure some will hate the idea of another local business being started in downtown. This would be a local business that doesn't cater to an aging hippie crowd, mind you, which I am sure burns someone's bee's wax.

Thursday, March 22, 2007

New Restaurant Downtown

Another restaurant will will be opening downtown. I am sure this is pissing off a few folks on a different blog, but I guess they'll be more inclined to just stay away.

Headline Bias

I can see the editors salivate over the census stats. That would lead to the bullshit headline on this article. The headline seeks to make Hamilton County into a hell hole, and seeks to prop up West Chester as the new Shangrla. Several facts I would think would be available are missing from the article.

What portion of those leaving are actually going to other local counties and how many are going to Arizona or California? There is little if anything the local area can do to stop people leaving the metro area. Warren and Butler Counties share the "blame" for the people going to California, Arizona, or anywhere else if they go for jobs. When business leaders, large companies, and governments are parasites on a large city, they can't expect the metro area to develop stronger industries and cutting edge businesses. If you want more economic clout, you must build up your urban core.

Sure, Hamilton County is second "worst" for population loss in the state, but we were not worse than Cleveland. Where's the comparison? What's the difference between the lowerest three ranked counties in the State? How do we rank with other urban counties across the country? Are we any different than St. Louis or Milwaukee?

How many reasons people gave for leaving were really excuses?

Also, when did white flight get the politically correct term of "outmigration?"