A New Downtown Revival

Now for some good news. Er ... mostly good news. Maybe a trend with some positive spin, but I'll punt this one downfield anyway since it jibes with my observations.

Brian Griffin at Cincinnati Blog has a post that links another post from Urban Cincy (a new local blogger) - and the subject at hand is the downtown revival.

That's right, I think it's fair to call it a Cincinnati downtown revival. As a long, longtime worker in these parts - I'm downtown every day, I know every streetcorner - I can say that is quite eye-popping to see the amount of building and growth, and most importantly, the crowds of people in downtown Cincinnati these days.

The naysayers will point out that there's still crime in the city. Per my previous post, kids still shoot each other in some neighborhoods. Once and a while somebody who is not involved in a life of destitution - someone merely visiting downtown will be a victim of crime. No matter the frequency, those news items are anxiously seen as "proof" that the city is dangerous, all of their fears are valid, and the urban center does not match the city of yore, the "safer" place they remember fondly from the stripmalls-and-subdivisions enclave to which they've relocated.

Which is perfectly fine. Maybe they'll come to a movie on the square once and a while, or maybe those visitors will be other families, or younger people without kids. Maybe they'll be surprised when the demographics of the urban center look different and have a different world-view when it comes to genuine risk.

It's funny how many people are on the square these days, even at night and on weekends. The commenters at Cincinnati Blog gripe that it's all restaurants - but it's been my observation, since I've come to the Midwest, that eating is important in these parts, on equal par with sports. And what retailers do exist downtown are only going to see foot traffic increase as people go to and fro from restaurants. There's a lot of potential synergies that take place in putting together a commercial district, and it seems very likely that it works quite differently than building a retail center next to the exit ramp and waiting for people to drive up and start shopping.

Right now I think the prognosis for a new downtown revival Cincinnati - and a new cross-section of the population that spends time there - is starting to look encouraging.

Tags: Cincinnati