The Tillers Live at Findlay Market Sunday

The Tillers will be gracing the streets of Over the Rhine Sunday March 30 (thats tomorrow) at Findlay Market starting at 12 noon. If you're planning on making a trip to the market go around noon and check out a great local band. If you've never been to Findlay Market here's a perfect opportunity! You won't be disappointed!

Also, check out a recent article in Citybeat about them!

Streetcar Video

I stumbled across a cool series of videos on youtube today. Its a 3 part show entitled "Things that Move - Streetcars." Overall its an entertaining and educational look at the history of streetcars and their modern day uses. The narrator is kind of annoying, but not too bad. It has lots of neat historical footage of streetcars. Also, it talks about the benefits and usefulness of streetcars today. I highly recommend this video.
Check it out! *Make sure to watch all 3 parts
STREETCAR VIDEOS

Streetcar Vote Delayed Again

City Council has delayed voting on the streetcar project for another 2 weeks. As stated in my last post Chris Bortz was supposed to motion to move forward with the project at yesterday's meeting, but instead told council members to take another 2 weeks to "work out their differences." The issue now is not whether or not streetcars will happen, but how they will happen. Even Roxanne Qualls declares herself a proponent of the streetars, however she wants to insure that the project will include a link to Uptown right away. The fear I have with this is that it will delay any start on the project at all and give the city more time to screw something up and not let it happen. I completely understand that they want to insure that an Uptown link will happen, but I think delaying construction of the first phase is pointless and potentially harmful to the entire project. They need to get this started now! In my opinion they should start the downtown/OTR loop immediately and work on the planning and funding for the Uptown link at the same time. Even if they start now, it will take until 2010 to get the first loop completed. I encourage everyone to really pressure council members through email to get started on this project quickly.
ENQUIRER ARTICLE

Streetcar Proposal Expected to Pass Monday

Let's hope that Chris Bortz is correct in his expectations that the financial committee will finally approve the project to begin. Monday is probably the biggest day the project faces so far! Write the city council members here: City Council Email
Voice your opinion!! Over the Rhine needs this!!
ENQUIRER ARTICLE

Union Terminal Turns 75

The enquirer published a great article today about the 75th Anniversary of the Union Terminal. Its hard to believe that in the 1970s people actually considered demolishing it! Thank goodness there were enough smart people around at the time to prevent that from happening. Its such an amazing place. Its always been my favorite Cincinnati destination and definitely the most amazing example of Art Deco Architecture anywhere. In my opinion it even beats the Chrysler Building in New York. Anyway, enjoy the article!
UNION TERMINAL TURNS 75

New Gateway Quarter Lofts Opening April 1st

The "Trideca Lofts" are set to open up for sale April 1st. This is the latest building project from the Gateway Quarter, built by Urban Sites. Builder Bill Baum has already contributed some very nice rehabbed properties to Over the Rhine so I'm sure this one is going to be just as nice! There should be photos going up soon. Keep checking back to see what the units and floor plans look like.
Enjoy!
Check it out!
***UPDATE***
Pics of The Trideca Lofts Building taken 3/23/2008

New Link: Greater Cincinnati Memory Project

Ever wondered what Cincinnati used to look like 60, 70, 100 years ago? Well, check out this site: Greater Cincinnati Memory Project
They have put together an impressive collection of thousands of historic photos of the greater Cincinnati region. You can use the search engine to find specific buildings or streets or anything. Enjoy!

Here's an example of some of the cool stuff you can find: Click Here
Its a picture of 12th and Vine in 1898! The building on the left with the bay windows is part of The Duncanson Lofts now in the Gateway Quarter. Its amazing how well preserved it is. It looks just as good now as it did 110 years ago!(The arch going across the street is a temporary structure built for a parade event.)

MTV reality show may be coming to Over The Rhine

MTV is currently working with Nick Lachey on a new reality show about Cincinnati's SCPA. According to MTV producers the show would "focus on students' academic and artistic pursuits" while filming them at the school and in the surrounding neighborhoods.
In my opinion this could be huge for SCPA, Cincinnati, and Over the Rhine. Just imagine how many people would get to see first hand how amazing that school really is and what a wonderfully unique neighborhood its in. I'm pretty excited about this mostly for what it would mean to the SCPA and Over the Rhine.
They've already shot pilot footage back in January and should have a decision in the upcoming months!
SCPA MTV ARTICLE

Cincinnati Dog Park in the Works!

Check out this post from Soapbox Cincinnati about a new project being proposed for a downtown dog park. This would be such an excellent idea. We have two dogs that would really benefit from having a dog park near by to run around in from time to time.
Here's the Post

New Link Added: Urban Ohio

This site has some great stuff. The Cincinnati section has a very nice gallery of photos of Cincinnati. The Over the Rhine section is great and has over 100 pictures of various buildings, people, and street scenes in Over the Rhine. Check it out!
URBAN OHIO

Flying Food Delivery Service

If you just don't feel like going out for food and you'd like something from one of your favorite Northside or Downtown restaurants check out these guys! They deliver anything you want from sandwiches to pizza. Plus they do it on bikes! I personally know two of the guys and I can vouche for them being good folks. So, give them a try the next time you're in the mood for some good food!
Flying Food Website

3CDC Disappointed

Enquirer Article
I don't typically like to post any bad news about OTR, but I thought this one was important enough to report. 3CDC found out that they will not be getting the $3.8 million dollars in funding from the Ohio Historic Preservation tax credit program they applied for. It sounds as if the program ran out of money and lots of people are upset with the state for not implementing a fair application process.
Unfortunately for 3CDC this money was going to be important for some of the new upcoming projects for buildings in OTR.
3CDC has not yet come up with a new plan for coming up with the money they were counting on having, but hopefully they'll be able to pull through and continue smoothly.

Streetcar Update: One step forward another step back...

Enquirer Article
It seems that every time we hear good news about the streetcar project moving forward, they have to throw out one more possibility for losing the whole deal.
The city council financial committee met yesterday to vote on moving forward with the streetcar proposal.
The good news:
-$800,000 was approved to begin studies required for gaining federal approval for funds for the uptown link
The bad news:
-Councilman Chris Monzel proposed a referendum be used to "be sure residents had a chance to weigh in"

In my opinion a referendum of any sort, binding or non-binding, would create another opportunity for delaying the start time so long that the whole project would be in danger of losing supporters and never happening. If they do approve a referendum be added it will be absolutely essential that supporters rally together in great numbers to make sure they get a majority vote over the opponents. This could get interesting. Lets continue to hope that the city council makes a wise decision that would be beneficial for OTR (pass the streetcars!!!) and not one that would keep all the suburbanites in West Chester happy.

New Link Added

Urbancincy was added to the link section. This seems like a great site with lots of good info and polls to make it interesting. Check it out!

Washington Park Project: 3CDC and Cincy Public Schools Clash Heads

The enquirer published an article today highlighting the problems that the Washington Park Project is now facing due to disagreements between the CPS district and 3CDC. It sounds to me that CPS district is being absurd in its requests and at the same time 3CDC is not doing its job to keep them happy enough to get the project done. Hopefully the two sides can come to an agreement tomorrow at the meeting they are having on the subject. The Washington Park project is a very important part of the overall revitalization efforts in Over the Rhine and it would be incredibly detrimental to the whole project if it didn't materialize.
Enquirer's Article

10 hours in New York...a new inspiration for Over the Rhine

I had the opportunity to visit New York City Wednesday. I was in Philly for a test and my flight wasn't scheduled to leave until the next day at 9am. So, I just couldn't resist making the trip knowing that it was only a short hour and a half drive away. I rolled in to Brooklyn around 5:30pm (yeah traffic was insane) and I was on my way back to the airport by around 3:00am. I was supposed to meet up with the guys from The Tillers, but their train into town got delayed and then they had some difficulty getting all their equipment from Penn Station to Brooklyn, where they were staying for the night. So, I never got to meet up with them. However, it turned out to be a really exciting trip anyway.
First, I spent some time checking out a couple of really cool areas of Brooklyn. I had never been in Brooklyn before and I must say I was really impressed. Manhattan street was bustling with life, even at 9pm on a Wednesday. The neighborhood really reminded me of Over the Rhine.
I then got to drive through Manhattan for awhile, passing such incredible sites as Grand Central Terminal, The Chrysler Building, and Times Square. After that it was time to head over to Greenwich Village to meet up with The Tillers at The Baggot Inn on W. 3rd Street. On Wednesdays they have an impromptu bluegrass/folk music night where musicians from all over the city meet up and play together in big groups of 15 or more people. Its completely improvised and really impressive to say the least. The Tillers had participated in this gathering once over the summer and were planning on coming back that night for another visit, but it didn't work out. However, it was a lot of fun hanging out there for a couple of hours.
After that it was already pretty late, but I was able to squeeze in a quick trip through SoHo before heading out through the Lincoln Tunnel. SoHo was an amazing site. Again there was a huge resemblance to Cincinnati's Over the Rhine. People everywhere, every building full of shops and apartments/lofts. It gave me a lot of hope for Over the Rhine. I definitely think OTR could rival SoHo someday in terms of architecture and overall appearance. Let's all hope it comes to life!

Channel 5 News says postive things about OTR

Wow, this is certainly a huge step towards a more positive image for OTR. Channel 5 is planning on talking positively about OTR tonight at 5pm. For all of those people in our city that actually believe everything they hear on the news this could really start planting the seed for a more positive outlook for the neighborhood. Lets hope these sort of stories become more numerous.
LINK TO CHANNEL 5 Story
LINK TO VIDEOS

I really enjoyed listening to what one of people on the videos had to say. He said that he really wants to see it be a mixed income neighborhood and maintain its cultural diversity while at the same time making sure that everybody shows love for one another because we're all just human. I don't think anyone could have summarized it better. Thats exactly what Over the Rhine needs, people who are willing to accept and embrace diversity and show other people around the city that this neighborhood can be a really wonderful place to live.
I'm very excited and glad that Channel 5 made the effort to help the neighborhood by airing those videos. People need to see that OTR is changing!

Local Music: The Tillers

This will be the first of hopefully many local bands I will be showcasing here. Allow me to introduce The Tillers, a trio of musicians based in Cincinnati that have been "serving a concoction of old-time traditionals, labor standards, and some less typical songs of the people's perspective" for about a year now.
They are a very talented group of guys and are gaining much deserved recognition for their efforts. This week they are in New York City playing at The Parkside Lounge and Banjo Jim's. But, you don't have to drive to NYC to see these guys play. They are regular performers at many local Cincinnati venues including The Northside Tavern, The Crow's Nest, the Comet, and the Southgate House. If you like the sound of banjo's, guitars, upright bass, and even harmonicas then you definitely need to check them out.
The Tillers are: Mike Oberst: Vocals, harmonic, banjo, guitar. Sean Mountain: Vocals, guitar, banjo. Jason Soudrette: Upright Bass
Check out their websites below for samples of their sounds.
Myspace
Chestnut Tree Records

New Link - Stuff White People Like

Well, I have to give the creator of this blog, Stuff White People Like, a lot of credit.
His list of 78+ things that "white people like" is hilarious, perhaps a little racist, but undeniably true. However, I think it would have been better to call his blog "stuff yuppies like." The reason I say this is because white people aren't the only ones who could fit into his descriptions. In general, any middle to upper-middle class, college educated, white collar worker type person could actually count as a "white person" by his description. Thats who we call yuppies.
A couple of my favorites: #41 Indie Music (this is probably the best one by far!), #29 Eighties Night, #26 Manhattan.
Regardless his site is quite entertaining and its even more interesting to see the responses he gets on each post. In just 2 short months he's managed to have over 6.2 Million hits!! Thats absolutely amazing. Enjoy!