This week's blogger, Aaron Renn, is on a mission to help America's cities thrive in the 21st century. Renn is a leading urban affairs analyst who spent some time in Cincinnati last week participating in a panel discussion about the casino at Broadway Commons. He'll share his observations on the Casino with us in this week's Soapblogs as well as offer praise for Cincinnati's old architecture and unique neighborhoods and his thoughts on making the most of these treasured assets.
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Cincinnati - An Embarrassment of Riches
Posted By: Aaron M. Renn
5/11/2010
I grew up in Southern Indiana near Louisville and have been coming to Cincinnati since I was a kid. I used to take in Reds games at Riverfront, visit Kings Island, and more. As an adult, I can now truly appreciate what Cincinnati has to offer. It's an embarrassment of riches.
Cincinnati simply has the best collection of urban assets of any city its size in America. I can't name another place like it. It has the stunning geography of the river and the hills. It's got the incredible neighborhoods and historic architecture. It has a great collection of contemporary architecture too. It has a huge number of Fortune 500 companies and great high culture institutions like the symphony and opera company. Most of all, it has retained a unique culture when so many other places have been homogenized.
I hear people in Cincinnati talk about a place like Over the Rhine. But as great as OTR is, there are probably 10-15 other neighborhoods in Cincinnati that most other cities would kill to have. As I took a guided tour of the city when in town last week, I was almost drooling over some of them.
Cincinnati has so much good stuff that it makes me wonder why it hasn't done more with it. Too many of those historic buildings are vacant. There are too few immigrants. Population growth trails the national average, and its economy, while doing ok, trails places like Columbus. I call it a conundrum. Whatever the reason for it, Cincinnati today is a bit like a sleeping dragon guarding a massive horde of treasure. If the urban redevelopment pace keeps accelerating and the city fully wakes up again – watch out America! Cincinnati's potential is simply huge.