Cincinnati - Where Its Been & Where Its Going (Columbus: house, employment)

[kjbrill]

I would like to start a discussion which hopefully will not deteriorate into just name calling and retribution.

During my lifetime I have seen Cincinnati suffer a great deal, most of which is due to the demise of manufacturing in the US. I was in the machine tool industry, and Cincinnati was considered the Machine Tool Capital of the World!, plain and simple. When I first started in 1957, my company The R.K. LeBlond Machine Tool Co. in Norwood employed 1200 people. And we were one of the little guys on the block, Cincinnati Milling Machine Co. dwarfed us. There were at least 20 machine tool companies of various sizes in the Cincinnati area. These were skilled jobs, and not a coincidence the German immigrants to Cincinnati spawned such. They paid well and you would find 2 or 3 generations of the same family working in those companies. These type of companies where the backbone of the middle class in the US. Nobody got rich, but nobody starved either. The kids could go on to college, maybe the first in their family ever, as I was.

And while I knew the machine tool business, we also had multiple automative plants, plus other businesses which upheld the quality of life in Cincinnati. We all know about P&G, Kroger, and Federated (now Macy's). But how about the others who have disappeared?

So as we move forward a new foundation needs to be built. The old foundation is no longer there. So please respond with your suggestions for a new foundation for living in Cincinnati, and why we should trust you.

[13th Alphabet]

I can see this one getting ugly!

I think first and foremost, the city needs to improve the quality and rid the stigma of CPS. I think that would be one of the main things before anything to attract families to the city.

[Sarah Perry]

This is such a huge question I can't wrap my mind around it.

I can fantasize, though, about what would happen if for say, 3 years or 5 years, the city committed to diverting every single dollar not needed for essential services to initiatives that would clean up, fix up, restore or rehab public property and infrastructure, and offer grants and other compelling monetary incentives for private property owners to do the same. I'm talking about things like demolishing abandoned factories and useless, deterioriated buildings and turning the lots into green space or urban vegetable gardens. Streamlining the permit process for rehabs. Giving the zoning authority enough money and muscle to enforce the existing regulations. Eventually initiatives like this succeed if they get enough publicity and cheerleading. People start to think, hey, I want to be part of this. Or they just eventually get brainwashed into going along. That works, too.

My own experience managing my own money over a lifetime has taught me that if you care for and treasure what you already have--and Cincinnati has a ton of beautiful places and hard-working people--you'll have a higher quality of life than if you're constantly borrowing to buy new stuff you can't afford and may not even really enjoy. Yes, I'm talking about the streetcar project, but I also mean other projects of its type. For the money that gets diverted to these types of things, I'm convinced we COULD have a city that immediately telegraphs to visitors or newcomers "The people here have pride in and care for our community." 10 or 20 years of that, and we well might have so much development as a result we could actually AFFORD some of the big-ticket stuff.

[kjbrill]

Originally Posted by Wahl_Wrighter

I can see this one getting ugly!

I think first and foremost, the city needs to improve the quality and rid the stigma of CPS. I think that would be one of the main things before anything to attract families to the city.

I agree it can get ugly. But I also agree Cincinnati needs to elevate the level of CPS considerably before there will ever be a situation where the antagonism between the City proper and the suburbs will come to rest. Once the City offers public education equal to the suburbs, there will not be a reason to belittle each other, especially for families. The City spends as much if not more on the annual amount per pupil. So what is the problem? 50 years ago I went to UC with many who graduated from the CPS system, and several of us, about 40%, graduated.

But in addition to the schools, what do you think are the catalysts to bring Cincinnati back to the level of prominence it once enjoyed?

[jbcmh81]

The city needs to do more to diversify the population (it's the least diverse population of the big 3), which would go a long way towards getting rid of the lingering question on race relations. It should also do more to push some of its strengths, such as the obvious, geography. A more consolidated and expansive park system, including more bike paths, etc that take advantage of the scenery. And finally, work on improving the attractiveness of the downtown area. The redevelopment of the riverfront was/is a good start and a huge improvement from what it used to be, but the giany highway canyon between it and the main part of downtown needs better, more pedestrian friendly access. I mention parks and a better riverfront access because of my own observations of Columbus. Our downtown has probably been one of the most lackluster of the big 3 for many years, but has seen a HUGE increase in businesses and residents because the city has been working on amenities there. Cincinnati has the biggest opportunity as far as natural features to make it something really special.

Other than that, I generally think Cincinnati is going in the right direction.

[wolden]

KJ,
Your post points up huge questions for our society, not just Cincinnati: how to revive the middle class, recreate stable employment that offers a good life , secure retirement, in return for dedication and hard work. That is what those machine jobs used to offer. They were skilled labor and offered a good life. That all went away with not much to replace it.

The very large population of poor, unemployed, poorly educated, lacking employable skills in Cincinnati is a mill around the neck of productivity and advancement for the city. It is a huge waste of potential resources. But how to solve it?? Apparently another huge social issue with no good answer that has worked in the last 50 years.

If you try to ignore the big issues, then any other solutions won't work, IMHO.

So much comes down to money, and to how it is allocated.

[Sarah Perry]

Originally Posted by Wahl_Wrighter

I can see this one getting ugly!

I think first and foremost, the city needs to improve the quality and rid the stigma of CPS. I think that would be one of the main things before anything to attract families to the city.

At least by some of the numbers, CPS actually IS improving. As long as you have a district with large numbers of poor people and parents who either cannot or will not send their kids to school well-prepared and well-fed, and provide a home environment that supports and builds on what the schools do, the schools can only progress so far.

I feel like the schools are part of the problem, but far more a symptom than a cause.

[Crew Chief]

We moved to SW OH and really love it here. Granted, both my wife & I are in "service" occupations. But we still feel like OH will rise, again, like a Phoenix. But I'm not really sure we've ever gone completely to ashes in SW Ohio, anyway. I think Cincinnati is like most of the rest of the country. Manual labor & production work, for many, is beneath their dignity. I'm the son of a Navy officer. He never was very handy around the house and car, so I never was that way. Despite a successful carrer in aircaft maintenance, I still would rather work with my head than with my hands. I also believe that we send WAAAY too many of our young to college. Not everyone is cut out for college. Yet we keep telling them they need to go to college to have a good career. They believe that they can't earn a good living with their hands. We may not have as much natural beauty or warm weather as other parts of the country but at least we have plenty of clean water in Ohio! Who knows, that may become a factor in the future...

Sarah Perry, I totally agree with you on the plight of the CPS.

[Bhiggins]

Personally I like it the way it is, not too sprawled, not too big or small, and just the right amount of diversity although it wouldn't hurt for there to be more Asian's and Hispanics than the norm of white and black only.

[ram2]

Originally Posted by kjbrill

I would like to start a discussion which hopefully will not deteriorate into just name calling and retribution.

During my lifetime I have seen Cincinnati suffer a great deal, most of which is due to the demise of manufacturing in the US. I was in the machine tool industry, and Cincinnati was considered the Machine Tool Capital of the World!, plain and simple. When I first started in 1957, my company The R.K. LeBlond Machine Tool Co. in Norwood employed 1200 people. And we were one of the little guys on the block, Cincinnati Milling Machine Co. dwarfed us. There were at least 20 machine tool companies of various sizes in the Cincinnati area. These were skilled jobs, and not a coincidence the German immigrants to Cincinnati spawned such. They paid well and you would find 2 or 3 generations of the same family working in those companies. These type of companies where the backbone of the middle class in the US. Nobody got rich, but nobody starved either. The kids could go on to college, maybe the first in their family ever, as I was.

And while I knew the machine tool business, we also had multiple automative plants, plus other businesses which upheld the quality of life in Cincinnati. We all know about P&G, Kroger, and Federated (now Macy's). But how about the others who have disappeared?

So as we move forward a new foundation needs to be built. The old foundation is no longer there. So please respond with your suggestions for a new foundation for living in Cincinnati, and why we should trust you.

Would Chicago now be considered the machine tool capital of the US ?