Progressive Culture in Cincinnati? Cincinnati v. Portland? (Delta, Clifton: luxury, to live)

[kjbrill]

My only exposure to Portland was a transitory one. I would travel through their airport to Japan on Delta airlines from CVG. A comfortable airport and one nice to transfer through as it was small. But the actual Portland apparently had few businesses to attract the company I worked for. I spent upteen weeks in Seattle and surrounds, but that was all Boeing.

[Ohiogirl81]

Progmac, that post was flippin' brilliant!

[jmecklenborg]

>Two good cities, but also also two cities...miles and miles...apart.

They actually are very similar topographically. The hills in the city aren't much higher or different than the hills that surround downtown Cincinnati. They're all wooded in the same way.

What all these clowns around Cincinnati don't understand is that the city could be a lot nicer place to live if we adopted just a few ideas, some of which don't cost any public money at all. And those that do cost a lot, like the transit system, act to *preserve* property values. They keep the city's money in the city and they motivate continual redevelopment of established neighborhoods. It ends the way neighborhoods are thrown away after the generation that built them moves to retirement homes.

[rhizohm]

Pretty much got all the information we can hope to get about Cincy, next step is to visit. But I did want to chime in about Portland. Contrary to what some have seemed to interpret from this discussion, I don't think that every city needs to emulate Portland, but yes it is definitely my kind of place. However, I actually feel that it's lack of racial and ethnic diversity compared to other cities (including Seattle) is NOT one of its assets but rather unfortunate. I also don't think that Portland's "whiteness" has anything to do with its success. There are many dominantly white communities in the country that have tons of social problems and which can't compete with Portland's positive attributes. Also, Seattle is much more racially and ethnically diverse than Portland, but still has most if not more progressive attributes. In my humble opinion, Seattle's problems boil down to terrible traffic and poor topography for biking, over population, rising cost of living and crunching for space to develop and grow. Otherwise it has almost everything PDX is becoming known for, but is significantly more diverse. Technically Cincy may be less white, but it is not more diverse. We have all kinds of East Asians, Ethiopians, Indians, African Americans, Hispanics and on and on. Portland is less diverse but there are still more Asians and Hispanics out here so I don't think we can say the differences can be boiled down so easily to race relations.

[rhizohm]

But I will say as a former Midwesterner and citizen of Milwaukee that race tensions in the Midwest are very sociologically different than in the PNW. But we still have Minneapolis and Chicago that can be considered beacons of progressive culture, despite classic Midwestern racial tensions, history of riots, etc. These issues are of course very sensitive and complicated, but they can't account entirely for what makes a Midwestern city different from a West coast city. International ports and the resultant flow of diverse people and ideas might be a better correlate since that would help explain Chicago.

[unusualfire]

Who has better looking women?

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by NicoleRic

I apologize for feeding the troll, but I can't resist. The Louisville fanboy was making me laugh. Louisville might be bohemian for small town Kentuckians but hardly compared to larger cities. I was reading an article the other day written by Louisville natives who recently took a trip to both Louisville and Cincinnati. The writer commented how much more vibrant downtown Cincy and OTR were compared to Louisville and the NULU district. The writer even stated that there was hardly anyone walking the streets in Louisville and asked Cincy to "send the redevelopment juice downstream."

A/N Blog . Cincinnati is Recovering From the Swine Flu

The writer should have researched more and went to the Highlands. All the hipness and bohemian nature of Louisville is in the neighborhoods, not downtown.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by Peter1948

I think Cincy's major issue right now are national image, race relations, and social environment. Hamilton county, was the ONLY county in America with a large city at its seat to vote for McCain in 2008.

That's actually a bit shocking to me. Hamilton County, Cincinnati voted for McCain in 2008? What was the attraction, I wonder.

[natininja]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

That's actually a bit shocking to me. Hamilton County, Cincinnati voted for McCain in 2008? What was the attraction, I wonder.

The most shocking fact about that is it's not true. Hamilton County voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by motorman

But there's also a line that needs to be crossed that will discomfort some of you reading this--but concluding any discussion about Portland's appeal w/o mentioning it is wrong. So, let's move to ANSWER TWO...

Yes--Portland's new, it's green, it's young and it's progressive...and it's white. In fact, NO other big city in America is as WHITE as Portland. (Just why do you think numerous people sing the praises of Seattle, Denver, and Salt Lake City?) Make no mistake--if Portland shared a demography similar to Cincinnati, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Portland is undeniably an ideal city for many because it comes unequipped with the racial baggage of virtually all our big Midwestern cities. We Cincinnatians have struggled with this Midwestern past of ours in ways that have twisted souls and made neighbors enemies of one another, while Portland has skipped the conflict almost entirely. Just look at our local TV, read our newspaper, or listen to our conversation here in the Queen City. Today we're expressing our elation for "T.T." when we talk about Tommy Tuberville, but only years ago, when we mentioned "T.T.," our expressions were ones of anguish, sorrow, and hate. (Why? Timothy Thomas.)

Yes, race came calling in the Midwest in a way it never did in the Far West, as the South migrated North in wave after wave, changing how Midwesterners think about everything. No wonder we love Portland--for we realize that Portland's more than a city with state-of the-art public transportation; it's also a city w/o many blacks--and we admire that. ("Portland," Just say the name and thy souls shall be healed.) Portland taunts us by being an alternate universe--a road not taken. It's the city we could have been, would have been, should have been--if only American History hadn't intervened. Thus, in hidden recesses of the mind, Portland becomes a purer place, a prettier place, a more delectable place not burdened with darkness. No matter what the shades of gray, Portland is good, Cincinnati is bad becomes an intimate mantra to which we agree.

Well-written. Important to say.