OHIO/CINNKY: The Banks, and the Blog

I am a big pro-Cincinnati person. In the grand debate of whether Cincy Rocks or Sucks (ha -- and here's the link I used on my very first blog), I'm a Cincinnati "Rocks" type person. I use the quotations because my dear friend, AA, has pointed out that my mood has shifted in the four years I've lived in Cincy proper (+4 years in Butler County in Oxford), my opinion went from "This city is GREAT" to "This city could be great!"

That's why I love blogs like Queen City Survey and Visualingual (now added to the blogroll) and Building Cincinnati, because they show me parts and pieces of the city that I really enjoy, may enjoy, or may grow to enjoy (Check out QCS's new blog on the Gwynne Building downtown -- I have never seen this building in my life -- I'm not saying he's lying, but, I'll tell you what, one day, when I'm downtown, Dan, and I see it, I'll post a single blog with the picture to prove that it really exists). New development, especially large scale developments are quite exciting. Kroger's in Price Hill, humorously enough, excites me, except that they just shut the old one down and tore it down without telling anyone.

Thanks Kroger's.

The Banks Project is very exciting, as it's trying to make up for the stupidity that Cincinnati was struck with the day they decided "No, thank you, we don't want fun events downtown" and so the developers went across the river and built Newport-on-the-Levee some ten years or so ago. This one promises to be huge, as well. I have great hope for this city -- it is architecturally magnificent, it has an amazing cultural heritage (my 2nd grade teacher, with whom I am still in contact, once told my parents to ask me about the pigs... apparently that is her lasting memory of the city), and I really do think there is a lot to Cincinnati that people don't appreciate. Once people get downtown and start understanding that there's stuff to do -- I am often saying there is not enough time or money for me to do everything I want to do -- I think we'll see a dramatic improvement. Especially once the streetcars start running (a minor joke, seeing as how I'm tepid about the streetcars).

I'm looking forward to seeing it and being there when it opens. And, of course, I'm looking forward to the improvements in my house value.

However, what's more fun, is that there's some dude who lives near there... sounds like on the river, who is blogging about the Banks Project being built. Thus, without further ado, here's our newest blog friend: The Banks Blog.

And his latest blog is a haiku (posted 5-2):

Vast dirt covered lot
crawling with machines and men
we anticipate.

Despite some sort of programming error -- I can't comment :-( -- it loks to be a fun one to follow. I've added it to the blogroll.

Oh, and from the Banks (linked above) site, I wanted to post some pictures for my out of town friends:



I really, really hope a movie theatre is going in. That's almost a guaranteed crowd.

PS And while we're adding blogs, I'll point out some that I've taken away during my consolidation to the left side of your screen: Black Cincinnati Blog (not posted since 3/4 when he predicted Obama would win Ohio), QCity News (I'm digging up some dish ASAP on this one for all of you), Cincinnati Revisited (blog closing), Cincinnati As I See It (blog closing) -- good bye my friends :-(