Neighborhood Problems Are Decades Old, Not Recent

In another "exclusive" the Cincinnati Enquirer attempts to explain the plight of several of the most depressed neighborhoods within the City. They do this by allowing an anti-Urban Core message to be presented. The basic premise of the article asks if the City CURRENTLY is treating neighborhoods "Fairly." Then they trot out anecdotal evidence of decaying areas of many neighborhoods, and talk about areas like North/South Fairmont which have been declining for decades. Just looking at the rate of decline over the last decade is not a valid measurement alone. If the neighborhood was already depressed and was small and just got smaller, that's not a fair assessment.

Places like Price Hill and Fairmont are not economic centers, they are residential neighborhoods.  As the article begrudgingly mentions, these neighborhoods were once home to large numbers of working class people who left when the manufacturing jobs left.  This started to happen well over 40 years ago and ended still decades ago. So trying to claim these neighborhoods are being held back today because the City is focusing on rebuilding the urban core, is a fallacy. Putting money into places that exist to support the job centers of the city will do nothing.  You have to support the Job Centers first and that will build up demand for housing in these neighborhoods.  That demand will bring development dollars.

What does this rely on, strong job centers, which are located in the Urban core (Downtown/Pill  Hill).  So the answer to the question in the article asking if all neighborhoods are treated equally, the answer is no, and has always been no.  Neighborhoods are different and serve different purpouses. It if funny that Queensgate wasn't really mentioned.  It is just as depressed and hurting. Why?  No one lives there, no one complains.

The City of Cincinnati must focus on building up the urban core.  This is the basis of city development.  Trying to prop up neighborhoods that don't have a viability beyond residential, can't be the focus. If these neighborhoods want to grow, they have to grow as the job centers grow.  Support job center growth and they have a chance.

Another thing not covered by the article, but a factor none-the-less is the affect white-flight had on these neighborhoods.  That's clear in the statistics and this isn't the initial wave that took place in the 1960's, this is a clear disparity.  East Price Hill shows this the most, where since 2000, white population dropped nearly 40%, while the Black population increased by more than 50%, and the Hispanic population rose 340%.  That doesn't fit the narrative, so it's ignored, like the neighborhood squeaky wheels claim they are being ignored.  Ironic?

Bunbury Music Festival Adds GBV and Fills Out Line-up

Yesterday the Bunbury Music Festival announced nearly all of it's line-up for the three-day music festival in July.  The big news was the addition of legendary alt-rockers Guided By Voices.  Additionally many local bands are included, like Wussy, the Seedy Seeds, and the Minor Leagues.

These additions are on top off the previously announced mega headliners of Jane's Addiction, Weezer, and Death Cab For Cutie.

Howard Wilkinson to Retire From the Enquirer

CityBeat is reporting that long time political reporter Howard Wilkinson is retiring from the Cincinnati Enquirer.  Gannett, the Enquirer parent company, has offered early retirement buyout packages to qualifying employees.

Wilkinson has been a bedrock of political reporting in Cincinnati as long as I have been in town.  He's an excellent journalist and provided great reporting and analysis of political races over the years that will be impossible to replace, as will the other 18 possible buyout options pending in the newsroom.

This is yet another loss at the Enquirer that I don't see how the paper can recover.  They are losing so much city political knowledge.  One of the keys to a great reporter is to know the history of the subject they are covering.  Wilkinson has that.  At this point, no one has that at the Enquirer in the area of politics the way Howard does.  This I believe is one reason that the political reporting ends up being nothing but giving crazy nut jobs a platform to spout anti-city issues.  Wilkinson wasn't a sucker.  He didn't give COAST or Smitherman and their ilk reams of free press.  This is a massive loss for the Enquirer.

If will be a gain for someone.  Howard needs to continue to write.  He should blog.  If he is staying in town, he is more than welcome to blog here at Cincinnati Blog.  He certainly will have better spelling and grammar than I do.

The Definition of Hipsterism, So Before Most Hipsters Were Born

The Cincinnati Monocle has found what may be the real definition of hipsterism from a French Writer.

Speaking of Hipsters I've been working on a couple definitions myself.  I won't try and define hipster, but instead think about two different levels of hipster: Aging Hipster and Aged Hipster.

An Aging Hipster is not a new term.  I define it as simply a hipster who is getting older, likely over age 30.  Maybe has a kid, maybe just finally got a 9-5 job.  This period can last well into their 40's.

An Aged Hipster is a newer thought under development.  One idea I have sees this as a newly found hipster who hit age 50, kids are gone, and wants to be relevant again.  Another more simple definition could just be what happens to the Aging Hipster. They finally get old and stop going out to see new bands, but still buy new music online and is sure to Tweet about it.

Boomers Don't Get Extra Sympathy From This Gen Xer

Yesterday the Cincinnati Enquirer highlighted the difficulties of Baby Boomers who lost their jobs during the Recession.  I don't have a ton of sympathy.  Those mentioned in the article are over 55 and most over 60.  These are people who are close to retirement age and often early retirement.  They are the type of person who it was extremely difficult to layoff in the recession because of their age, and the discrimination prevention laws that exist for people based on being older.

As a member of Generation X, I don't have any extra sympathy for Boomers on this issue.  Generation X has long been subjected to the collective excesses and selfishness of Baby Boomers, to our detriment.  Here the issue is Retirement.  Boomers don't seem to want to retire or maybe far too many of them are ill prepared to retire as they reach the appropriate age.  So, instead of retiring, like their parents did, they continue to work or in case of this article, continue to seek jobs.

For the people involved, they have no choice, they have bills to pay.  On a personal level, that is understandable and I hope they all succeed.  Collectively I wonder why so many Boomers, and maybe this is pointed to the older Boomer already past 65, are not retiring?  Why are they not getting out of the way for those younger?  How many people delayed retirement during the recession because they lost money in their 401K and wanted to wait to make sure they retired at the level they are accustomed.  They should have been invested in a way to prevent such a radical loss.  They instead took a risk, lost, and forced someone younger to lose their job because laying off an older person is not possible, even though they may be less qualified.

Younger generations are suffering just as much as these Boomer are.  Sure, a 41 year old father of two likely has a far wider skill set that would allow him to get other jobs more often, but he has far less of a safety net, having had far less time to prepare for these types of problems. More of my sympathy goes out to the 41 year old who lost his job.

Yelp Helps After School Special - March 30th

On Friday March 30th the Cincinnati Yelp community and a laundry list of local non-profit organizations are congregating at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center for a great event to help out a wide variety of causes. The Yelp Helps After School Special (A Giant Party For A Good Cause!) brings the vibrant social media community here in Cincinnati together with a strong collection of very worthy non-profits. Hopefully fun and a little education will ensue.


Groups like Caracole, Crayons to Computers, Enjoy the Arts, and Women Helping Women will be present and attendees will have a chance to learn more about those organizations and find out what they do and how you can support them.

Enjoy the Arts is presenting the entertainment with an ETA Cabaret with spots from grand organizations like the Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and the NewEdgecliff, Theatre.

Come for the food and drinks from tons of local Restaurants. It will be great opportuny to find a great organization that could use a contribution or voluneer support and while you mingle and eat you can chat with non-profit representtaives.

Full lists of the organisations, Resturants, and entertainment is on the website link above.

It all starts at 8PM, but you need to have an RSVP to attend. Get out and have some fun for a good cause.

Oh, and if you are so inclinced to dress-up, the theme is school themed, so nerd it up, dig out the prep school wear, or the ladies can use their imagination. If I find some tape, a pair of nerd glasses may be in order. I

This is What a Douchebag Thinks Like

When you are at home pondering about what a Douchebag looks like, you most often get the image of a frat-boy or some guy wearing a baseball hat inside a bar on a Friday night.  Well, if you want to know what someone like that has rolling around in his head, I will point you to anti-education and anti-women Rich Hoffman of West Chester.  Based on his photo in the Enquirer article, this guy looks more like someone with a really misplaced Indiana Jones fetish, than a frat boy. His thoughts make him the spokesman for Douchebags the world over.

This guy is part of the effort to block any and all tax levies for the Lakota School district out in Exurban paradise of West Chester.  This is one guy I am so glad lives out there.