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Today’s installment in the Columbus Dispatch series about Ohio’s seven big cities is about Cincinnati. 

I will admit, I love Cincinnati. 

I love the history, I love the architecture,  I love the riverfront. I love the hils….  I have never lived in Cincinnati.  When I lived in Dayton, Cincinnati was the place to go for fun and  I have only been to Cincinnati a couple of times in the past 17 years.

I remember the race riots in 2003 in the Over-the-Rhine neighorhood from the news coverage. I remember Marge Schott’s making the news for comments.  I remember the Maplethorpe exhibit being in the news.  I know of the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center but have never been there… then again I have never been to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland either…

To me Cincinnati is exotic.  Neighborhoods built on hills… I envy Cincinnati’s hills.  When I lived in Dayton (long ago) I loved the Mt. Adams neighborhood  in Cincinnati.  I loved the restaurants on the river front… but I bet a lot of those restaurants were really in Covington Kentucky not in Cincinnati.

Up close to me anyway when I frequented Cincinnati it looked less like the “uptight, conservative, old-money town” that the Columbus Dispatch article refers to, than it does from a distance via the news.

The On the BRINK : Ohios big cities series

“The Dispatch takes a look at the issues, through the eyes of those living in those cities.”  I have heard of Rookwood Pottery but did not know it’s recent history until reading the Columbus Dipatch article.

Something I’ve been thinking about through the whole Columbus Dispatch series (or at least since the installment on Dayton… ) are who did the Columbus Dispatch talk to in the cities and what was their agenda.  Were the people interviewed by the Dispatch reporters honest about the community or were they cheerleaders for their city? Did the reporters talk to the mayors? There’s a video from the mayor of each city in the interactive online part of the Dispatch series… 

Still to go in the series…Youngstown and Columbus…. and I assume a recap of the seven big Ohio cities.  … if anyone is reading my attempt at a recap of the Columbus Dispatch series… I’ll bet tomorrow is Youngstown but don’t expect more than a link from me.  I spent a weekend at a retreat in Youngstown.. for all I know I was not even really in Youngstown.

Cleveland -  Blame “Sex in the City”

Dayton - Ohio Big Cities’ burbs…

Akron - “I went back to Ohio”

Toledo - Ohio Jobs, Jobs, Jobs….

In the Columbus Dispatch series on Ohio’s big cities Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. talked about what is referred to as the Ohio Brain Drain   in an audio comment.  

Katz  says young people are looking for “diverse, distinctive and dense” in a community. He says bright, educated Ohio young adults are attracted to Chicago, Madison and Minneapolis. 

This is the part where the real estate agent in me wants to do a quick plug for Columbus… but I will resist… but graduates from Ohio colleges would be closer to “Mom” for the holidays in Columbus than if they head off to Minneapolis, Madison or Chicago… back to your regularly scheduled blog… about big cities in Ohio.

Wednesday the  Columbus Dispatch series focused on Akron.  Definitely a more upbeat story than the one on Dayton Tuesday.   Since 1983 (why does the Columbus Dispatch use  1983?) Akron has not lost population should say jobs not population unlike the other big industrial cities of Ohio.  Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dayton, Toledo and Youngstown.   

The Columbus Dispatch article written by Mark Niquette does say of Akrons population historically:

“Akron, which once boasted of being the world’s fastest-growing city with a boom in the rubber industry boosting the population from 69,067 in 1910 to more than 208,000 a decade later, has lost nearly 30 percent of its population since 1960.”

But remember… no population loss since 1983.  The reason I question the 1983 is ‘The Pretenders’ song “My city was gone” was a hit in 1983….  Chrissie Hynde the lead singer of The Pretenders wrote the song about the city she had grown up in, Akron Ohio…

“I went back to Ohio

But my city was gone

There was no train station

There was no downtown. …

A, O, way to go Ohio”

The lyrics above  as quoted in the Columbus Dispatch article.  I lived in Akron from late 1983 to 1986…  I worked downtown at O’Neill’s (the O’Neill’s buying office was in the downtown store.)  The Columbus Dispatch article has a slide show of old photos of downtown Akron…  ooooooold.  Long before Chrissie Hynde came back from London (the London in England NOT the London in Central Ohio) and downtown Akron was all parking lots… and I moved there.

Working with a young couple from Akron  recently I got blank stares when I said “O’Neill’s” to them.  To them the department stores in Akron was May Company….

This fall Chrissie Hynde opened a vegetarian restaurant (or vegan?) in Akron.  VegiTerranean  is Italian / Vegetarian?  The Northside Lofts where the Chrissie Hynde’s restaurant VegiTerranean is located look exciting. 

 on an Akron Beacon Journal forum it says:

“When Chrissie Hynde’s opening number is the O’Neil’s department store jingle, you know it was a special night for Akron.”

Gee I don’t remember O’Neill’s jingle…

Is the search for cool, dense, urban areas outside of Ohio leading to declining populations in Ohio cities?

Is not being able to get a cup of coffee at 11:00 at night part of the Ohio “brain drain” you hear about?

Pop Culture is responsible for young people wanting to move back to urban neighborhoods? “Seinfeld”, “Frasier” and “Sex in the City” and other television shows are among the pop influences that effect perception of cities according to Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institute. Listen to The Idea Virus - audio (mp3 on the Columbus Dispatch.)

Older Americans were brought up with movies like Blade Runner and other apocalyptic stories of city life… so we settled in suburban areas…. Who knew?

Dispatch Special Report On the Brink Can Ohio’s Cities be saved? Is written by By Mark Niquette, Alan Johnson and Joe Hallett of the Columbus Dispatch. The great graphics of changes in the 7 cities in population, housing values, jobs and geography… in “a snapshot of Ohio’s cities. ” is included online.

What are the seven big cities in Ohio?

In alphabetical order, Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo and Youngstown.

Of the other six largest Ohio cities Sunday’s Columbus Dispatch Article says:

• “Youngstown has adopted a “shrinking city” concept, tearing down vacant houses and buildings and replacing them with green space”

• “Akron is relying on polymers and foreign investment to help ease the blow from the decline of its rubber industry.

• “Dayton is counting on development of surrounding medical centers with names such as Phoenix and Renaissance,”

• “Cincinnati is trying to polish the tarnished image of a signature neighborhood, Over-the-Rhine, and negotiating for $1 billion in new riverfront development.”

• “Toledo is banking its future on past successes as a manufacturing and assembly powerhouse.”

• “Cleveland is luring residents back to inner-city neighborhoods with unique incentives, using Cleveland Clinic as the anchor to make the city an international biomedical research and treatment destination.”

Columbus? What about Columbus? The Dispatch article says “Ohio’s cities, as we have historically known them, are dead. Forget the past. Except for Columbus, Ohio’s big cities have endured vast population and job losses. “

Columbus was not industrial. Columbus has not had the job losses the other six Ohio cities have had. Columbus population has continued to grow… The city of Columbus boundaries have continued to grow.

I was surprised by some of the stats in the Columbus Dispatch, especially about Cleveland and Youngstown. I am familiar with the Ohio cities, except Youngstown and Toledo. Youngstown, I was there one weekend and Toledo I’ve only driven through. I lived in Akron and Dayton before moving to Columbus. Living in Akron and Dayton you get to explore Cleveland and Cincinnati.

Blaming the Ohio legislature - the Columbus Dispatch Article “Legislature has let cities down, mayor says” is also written by Niquette, Johnson and Hallett.

Monday’s installment of the Columbus Dispatch Article is about Cleveland.

On the brink: Cleveland - Pockets of rebirth amid ocean of poverty

“Friends” a television show that Katz of the Brookings Institute did not mention popped into my head after reading a comment in todays installment:

…from a 34 year old physician raised in the Cleveland suburbs now living in the City of Cleveland ” If and when kids come, Pujazon-Zazik said, “I would probably move to the suburbs even though I love this place.”

Didn’t the TV show “Friends” end with Monica and Chandler moving from New York City to the suburbs when they had a baby?

Columbus bloggers did you go?  Ohio bloggers?

Town Hall Meeting - “Keep it Made in America” town hall meetings

I did not go. 

I first heard about the Town Hall Meeting from a Cleveland blogger… Carole Cohen (Goodness Carole’s got a new WordPress blog now, Cleveland Real Estate News, she had a Blogger.com blog last time I checked in with her… I can not keep up…)   I would not commit to going to the town hall meeting ahead of time..  I did not even reply to Carole’s email notifying me about the town hall meeting…  I kept changing my mind about going or not going. 

Carole obviously heard about it directly because of what she blogs about.   Issues, politics, jobs, the economy.   

I am not that political.  Politics scares me.  Instead I went to a builders open house in Galena (out in the boondocks..wonderful area and it is closer than it used to be but it gets dark out in the boondocks..)  instead.  I could blog about the food or the pretty decorating.  Or I could tell you about taking a wrong turn in the country, in the dark… thank goodness all roads lead back to Columbus.  I guess I could have got totally turned around and hit Cleveland, hopefully I would have had the sense to turn around.  Actually I would have run out of gas long before I hit Cleveland…   

I went out to the new subdivision via Worthington Road… but ended up coming back by Route 3 through Westerville, if I had turned the wrong way I would have been headed to Cleveland.   Isn’t Route 3 the 3C Highway, Cincinnati to Cleveland by way of Columubs?

I wondered why the town hall meeting about manufacturing was in Columbus and not Cleveland.  If the meeting had been in Cleveland it would have been more convenient for Carole and I would feel less guilt….

The study is by County, they don’t break it down by the actual suburb but Franklin County suburbs of Columbus are among the 100 wealthiest counties in the US according to a report by Biz Journals at number 78.   Delaware County is even higher in the list than Franklin at number 23.   

No Ohio county made the top ten list.  Mostly the top ten list is counties that are suburbs of New York City… the  middle Atlantic (Maryland and Virginia), one California county  and one county in Colorado.

America’s wealthiest suburbs: How 100 counties ranked -Table   from Biz Journal (Columbus Business First. )

Franklin County is on the list in the 78th position out of 100 Counties.  Delaware County Ohio suburbs of Columbus are the 23rd wealthiest in the US.  The areas of Delaware County that would be considered the Delaware Metro area. 

From the table for Number 78 -  Franklin County Ohio (part outside Columbus, but considered the Metro Columbus area)

Wealth index - 4.32 

Per capita income -  $32,561  

Households with annual incomes of $200,000 or more - 6.8% 

Families living below poverty level -  5.8%

Housing units with 9 or more rooms - 16.1%  

Households with 4 or more vehicles - 6.5%

Population - 377,185 

Biz Journals said of  the we”The 100 counties on Bizjournals’ master list easily outstrip the national standard of living”

Delaware County